The CoreWeave IPO with CEO & Co-Founder Mike Intrator 3/28/25

0:00Bring in show music please. Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod. The Doge team and special government employee Elon Musk go public. They weren't like big balls and 20 years old. Rooting out inefficiency and stemming a chaotic identity. Senator Chris Coons on the fast moving, fast changing first two months of Trump 2.0. I don't think people elected him to put tariffs on, take tariffs off, put tariffs on, take tariffs off and raise our costs. And the biggest tech IPO we have seen in years. AI infrastructure company CoreWeave goes public and CEO and co-founder Mike in Trader spoke to our team before the first trade.

0:45We have a wave of demand that we are unable to build fast enough to see. Plus the rest of today's news that got us squawking. It's Friday. Finally. March 28th, Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand Becky by in 3, 2, 1, cue it please. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We're live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan. Andrew is off today. Almost. Almost. Almost the same color. Again. I definitely have something much closer than this to that. It's pretty close. Did you watch any of that last night? Any of the sports? You know, it's a long story.

1:30Yes, I watched a little bit. I can't stay up that late. But. Nine. No, there are games being played in Newark. I know. At The Rock. I saw it. I was watching. You can't bet on them. Oh. I just, I was thinking it would have been really fun to go watch them. First I went to Fanatics. I'm like, what's the problem? You were going to bet on Alabama or. I was probably going to take Alabama. Yeah. And I was. There were two Rutgers players. Former Rutgers players. Cliff Amore. and Mag, Malat Mag, who were opposing each other. I had to, you know how I figured it out? Perplexity. At first I tried to, it's like, I looked, fanatics, nope, not there.

2:08Okay, going over to DraftKings. Yeah, it's at the Prudential Center. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't in-state. Anything in-state, you're not allowed to bet at it. Because, you never know, I might drive over there really quickly and see some of the players going in and say, hey, I'll give you$10. Is that why they do it? I think they're worried that you have undue influence. I don't know. You tell me. But it ruined, you know, and that was the game that came on at 7. So that was when I was tonight. I'm watching tonight. And it's happening again. There's not all the games are bettable tonight. Cloud computing provider CoreWeave pricing shares in its IPO at$40 a share each and raising$1.5 billion.

2:49The share price was well below the earlier indicated range of 47 to 55. So all the way down at 40. Also, the company is able to sell 37.5 million shares and wanted to sell 49 million. So the implied valuation for the company now around$19 billion, if you use a fully diluted number it would be above that, but still it got ratcheted down and we finally get an IPO in tech that everyone was looking forward to. You can't just say it was unequivocally just great. They're going to raise$1.5 billion versus$3 billion that they had hoped. Right, and I think that the valuation would have been much higher.

3:26Yeah, and also of that, about a billion dollars is already slated to go to pay down debt, pre-existing debt for some of these issues. It's an AI play, right? They provide access to NVIDIA graphic processing units for AI training and for workloads. And despite the reduced size of the offering, it's still the biggest IPO, tech IPO, since 2021. It should provide investors a barometer of the demand for tech offerings after a couple of quiet years. Shares are expected to begin trading today on the NASDAQ symbol CRWV. And it's the age-old question. Do you want to price it low enough to get a nice jump when it opens?

4:07Or are you leaving money on the table that you could have raised by doing it that way? Always talk about that. I mean, this is such a fascinating thing. Do you want to get as much as you want, or do you want the people that buy it? Right, to buy it to get a little bit of a pop to ride with this, too. It's been such a fascinating thing to watch. They build these data centers. It's really CapEx intensive to do that. So they've got close to$8 billion in debt already on the balance sheet. But they've also been growing incredibly rapidly, 700 and almost 50 percent growth in revenue over the last year.

4:38They started out as building data centers for crypto mining and things along those lines. They shifted over to AI, hit it right at the sweet spot. So it's been an incredible growth story. But they're coming at a time when there are questions about the continued demand for these data centers, especially in the wake of what we heard from DeepSeq in China earlier this year. And don't miss Becky's interview where she is going to. I'm actually super excited about this. Any questions you have about the inner workings of this company and the actual technical expertise that they have, she's going to. I'm super excited.

5:15You actually have studied. I have. Mike and Trader is coming on and there's some huge questions to ask about. There's so much excitement around. You know, you're going to Microsoft is their biggest customer. And so that's raised some questions as well. There are issues about how they violated some of the terms of their covenant for this loan that they took out. But I mean, there's some really interesting things that they've done. And it's amazing. It's also, by the way, NVIDIA owns about 6 % of the company. Well, I'm glad we're going to have all the other viewers watching to learn about it in plus one.

5:45Because I had some other things I had to look at. And Chris Coons, who voted against, you know, voted against the president. And, you know, I really thought Democrats wanted to keep the government open at all times because they gaslight so hard with the possibility of Republicans closing the government. And then, you know, poor Chuck Schumer is going to get thrown out on his tuchus because he, you know. Because he wanted to keep the government open. We'll talk about that. But we have a lot of really big guests coming up. We do. And this is the Corweave CEO, and I'm super excited about that. Me too.

6:21Now I am. Now I am. It's a fascinating, fascinating story. Elon Musk, in the meantime, explaining his attempts to cut federal spending with the Department of Government Efficiency. In an interview on Fox News with seven other Doge staffers, Musk detailed the team's goal of cutting the deficit in half from$2 trillion to$1 trillion. We want to reduce the spending by eliminating waste and fraud, reduce the spending by 15 percent, which seems really quite achievable. The government is not efficient and there's a lot of waste and fraud. So we feel confident that a 15 percent reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services.

7:08Some of the fear around what Doge is doing has been focused on changes to the Social Security Administration. Musk tried to reassure viewers on that front. As a result of the work of Doge, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money, not less money. All right. I'll emphasize that point and let the record show that I said this and it will be proven out to be true. Also featured in the interview was Tesla board member and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. He is said to have joined Doge to help the antiquated paper-based process of retiring from the government. We really believe that the government can have an Apple Store-like experience.

7:52Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems. And that is one of the things we talked about yesterday with Sandy Weil. If you can actually get in and fix the systems there, these antiquated systems that exist, which is long overdue, something along those lines to do that, that would be incredibly helpful. but this has been a big issue. My guess is they're going out publicly and talking about this because there has been some public pushback and real concern about what happens with social security if you're closing down the phone lines. Because of the narrative that has been spread by the people that are organizing the big demonstration for this week at Tesla dealerships.

8:30It's a fear factor. Anytime there's change, you're going to have fear. I would strap every person, I'm not going to say just Democrat, but I would strap every person that is circulating, whatever it is, hysteria or lies or misperceptions. Those guys I watched. And one by one, they said why they were there, who they were and why they were there. They were one of the most impressive groups of people that one guy was running four or five companies. Why'd you leave? Because I think I want to do this. This is my chance to be able to do something. Even Elon, either we're going to be a bankrupt country or we're going to have to take these steps.

9:07But they were so thoughtful. They weren't like big balls and 20 years old. And they weren't just at all. Well, and they're smart. They're the some of the smartest people I've seen. And, you know, if you were if you got to have Congress to do it. The Biden administration had four years to start on this. We've had the previous Trump administration. We're finally at least looking at ways to do it. And these were some of the most impressive people and patriotic people, given their time. and they could be doing a lot of other things. So, you know, when they're firebombing a dealership this weekend or having a big demonstration or keying a Tesla or whatever it is that these people are doing, I would strap them in front and make them watch the half hour with Brett Barrow.

9:50That's what I would do. What I will say is I wouldn't question the reasons for any of these people getting involved with this. They want to help their country. I think the question becomes if you move too fast, if things get, like the idea of shutting down on social security call centers and offices, makes it hard for seniors who don't know how to get the technology. They addressed all of those concerns. They said, yeah, there will be times where we don't get something right, but we immediately try to - We immediately try and fix it. We try to fix it. I don't know who else I'd rather have trying to do this.

10:20Congress is useless. There's, I wouldn't - No, but again, it goes back to the questions of the constitution, the power of the purse strings going to the Congress. Look, I think we need somebody behind me. These guys would be great to come up with all the solutions. Okay, how are you going to do it with Congress when you can't get a... That's part of the problem. You can't get a Democratic vote on a single Republican proposal. You don't need it. You need 60 a lot of times. Yeah, you don't need it right now in order to get majority issues through. They have both houses. Well, you know, I'm not going to point fingers, Democrats or Republicans, on who can't do it.

10:56But we've seen what they're capable of. Nobody can do it. We've seen what they're capable of. They don't do it. Maybe there's very little. Maybe you can vote on some of the stuff these guys find. I mean, here's the latest thing on, you know, there's no fraud in Medicaid. Yeah. Right now, Medicaid, billions of dollars, because if you get insurance, you got insurance company gets paid in one state. If you move, the insurance company can still get paid in the state you move from and the new state. Right. And this is because the systems don't talk. And this is a huge part for upgrading those systems and getting some real technology.

11:28I mean, we've seen the problems with government technology on the whole thing. I think one of the things Elon was saying last night was he looked at a survey that cost, what was it, a billion dollars that he said could have been done on SurveyMonkey for$10 ,000. Right. Ten questions, very simple thing. It's been a huge problem that you don't have the most up-to-date technology in government. And that's because you can't get the most up-to-date people who will agree to work for the government wages on some of these things. So we are getting a good service by having these experts coming in and offering what is top quality talent.

12:03And people, this is why they voted for Trump. And actually his approval ratings right now are at a higher level than they ever were in November when they voted for him and through the entire stint of the first administration. So people see what's happening. My guess is the reason they're getting out there and doing this is because there are so many questions and so many people who are nervous about changing. Well, the mainstream media would never take one side in this. The European Union is likely to hit Apple and Meta with relatively light fines under the bloc's digital competition law. That's according to the Financial Times, which says that Apple is expected to be ordered to revise its App Store rules.

12:42It said a separate investigation into the design of Apple's web browser choice screen will also be closed. That report says that the lighter regulatory touch from Europe is meant to avoid upsetting President Trump. It says Meta is likely to face a fine and an order to change its practice of forcing users to consent to data tracking or pay a subscription fee to go ad free. That's really interesting. An example of where this president's unpredictability is definitely going to help American countries, because this law was seen as an absolute way of just taking revenue and huge fines from our biggest companies.

13:20I'm going to tell the EU to just butt out. You know, when you succeed at something in terms of technology or to the extent that all our companies do, then maybe you can get involved. It seemed incredibly unfair the way they were going about this. And so this is probably some much needed and kind of necessary news to hear back here on that front. You know, there are a lot of there have been a series of things that have happened that would not have happened if he wasn't as mercurial. And sometimes I worry about the unintended consequences. Well, yeah, the case where it definitely pays off when when two countries both have like a thousand.

14:04nuclear warheads. There's times when you're thinking, let's tread lightly. Thousands. I think thousands. This is something I know how irritated so many of us were when the EU first came up with this ridiculous plan, because they can tax something like your entire global revenue and take a huge hit from the entire situation with it. Seemed patently unfair. So here's where that pays off. Definitely a positive. All right.

14:34Yeah, that makes sense. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking yesterday in Murmansk. That's the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle. He warned it would be foolish to dismiss U.S. President Trump's, in case, if I said President Trump, you wouldn't know who I was talking about. But President Trump's push for control of Greenland, saying the move is unsurprising, given America's longtime interest in the mineral rich territory. He noted that the U.S. had such plans as far back, he says, as the 1860s, and offered to buy Greenland from Denmark again after World War II. He described it as, in his words, an issue that concerns two specific nations and has nothing to do with us.

15:22I don't believe that. Putin's comments came ahead of today's visit to Greenland by Vice President J.D. Vance. His focus is on the minerals, not on the idea that this would also be a security issue to prevent the world from Russia making some moves we weren't able to counter. Cheese will be next. Coming up next on Squawk Pod, the political division around the doging of American government. Democratic Senator Chris Coons joins Joe and Becky on the Squawk set. Lots of Delawareans have called to express concern about their personal financial information being accessed by this unelected team from Doge.

16:02And I'm getting calls with complaints about wait times on phone calls for either Social Security or veteran services. Stay tuned. We'll be right back.

16:16Welcome back to Squawk Pod. Stand by Joe. Here's Mike. Q. You're watching Spockbox on CNBC. I'm Joe Kerner along with Becky Quick. Elon Musk, we're going to just take a quick look at a soundbite in a second, explaining his attempts to cut federal spending with Doge. In an interview on Fox News with Brett Baer, with seven other Doge staffers, Musk detailed the team's goal of cutting the deficit in half from$2 trillion to$1 trillion. You technically are a special government employee, and you're supposed to be 130 days. Are you going to continue past that or do you think that's what you're going to do?

16:56I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame. So in that time frame, 130 days. And the process is a report at some point, 100 days? Not really a report. We are cutting the waste and fraud in real time. So every day that passes. Our goal is to reduce the waste and fraud by$4 billion a day, every day, seven days a week. And so far we are succeeding. Some of the fear around Doge and what it's doing has been focused on changes to Social Security and to the Social Security Administration. Mr. Musk tried to reassure viewers on that front as well.

17:35It's going to affect people very positively. So the changes that we're doing here will ensure the solvency of the American government, of the United States of America. This is what we're trying to do, is ensure that people do receive their benefits in the future. And you can only receive your benefits if the country is operating in a healthy and competent way. And joining us now, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committee, is in studio with us. It's good to have you on. Great to be on, Joe. Good to see you. Senator, did you get to watch any of it or are you just hearing about it?

18:15I didn't. I'm just hearing about it now. But I'm well aware of the widespread concern among constituents that Doge broke into and got access to everyone's information out of the Treasury master file. Lots of Delawareans have called to express concern about their personal financial information being accessed by this unelected team from Doge. And I'm getting calls with complaints about wait times on phone calls for either Social Security or veteran services. I think the overriding thrust of what Mr. Musk and the other members were saying last night was that we are on a course in this country of insolvency in a lot of different areas, including entitlements if we don't do something, and including just overall government spending, the total debt at$36,$37 trillion, and as a percentage of GDP by 2050, the numbers are staggering.

19:11So they're just that was the point was we are trying to address where we can. And in the most prudent way possible, we're trying to address it now before it's no longer addressable. Is there any empathy or any understanding that that's something we might want to do in the Democratic Party right now? You started to say, is there any empathy? And what you changed it to, is there any understanding? And let me get to that point. The core challenge for Democrats is how Republicans are going about with what's called a reconciliation bill that's moving through the House and headed to the Senate that will slash$800 billion, mostly from Medicaid.

19:51I did an event last week with patients who rely on Medicaid for their health care, their caregivers, their families. These are disabled children. These are folks with medically complex conditions. These are seniors in nursing homes. There's broad agreement that we have a deficit that is out of control. There's deep disagreement about how to go about dealing with it. And the bill that we are seeing come through will explode. The deficit will dramatically increase how much America is spending by giving again one of the biggest tax cuts in American history. And so you're calling you're calling spending not.

20:32Collecting enough tax taxes, it's not actually spending it. As you know, the two are a balance sheet is how much comes in, how much goes out. I understand. So, for example, laying off thousands of people from the IRS, one of the things Doge is doing, is projected to reduce Treasury receipts by 10%. Senator, Medicaid, I mean, this is just one story here. I mean, there's plenty of things to look at with Medicaid. Every one of the most of the 10 million illegal immigrants that enter during the Biden administration, If they need health care, it's Medicaid. Not that you don't want to give people health care, but it also has.

21:11It's also been expanded. It's also been expanded. A quarter of my constituents in Delaware, 250 ,000 of my one million constituents. It's been expanded far beyond disabled and poor people. It's been expanded far beyond that. It's providing substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment. Chest lessons after school. And the$800 billion that you're talking about, you're not cutting Medicaid itself. You're cutting the increases that are built in over the next 10 years into Medicaid. That's all that's got. It's still growing every year, right? Look, the priorities of our parties are fundamentally different in terms of where we'd like to reduce spending and where we'd like to invest.

21:50One of the things that got broad bipartisan support in the last Congress was investing in chips manufacturing here in the United States. The Chips and Science Act passed with bipartisan margins in both the House and Senate. Trump is determined to cut this program, to claw back investments in chip manufacturing. That both hurts manufacturing and hurts our competition with China. Do you think it was a good idea that you voted, you didn't go with the majority leader on keeping the government open? Democrats have gaslit Republicans so many times about keeping the government open. And yet, this most recent time, you know, the majority, I'm sorry.

22:30He was majority. He was. Now he's minority. I know what you mean. Minority leader was left out hanging out to dry. He had to get, you know, a couple of, I guess, a coalition of the willing that went along with him on this. But you decided not not to. And that would have shut the government down. Well, I'm an appropriator, and I thought we should have voted for a 30-day continuing resolution that kept the government open, but continued our negotiations to actually do our job and do a full-year appropriation. I'm the senior Democrat on appropriations for the Department of Defense. We have never had a full-year CR for the Department of Defense.

23:08It is harmful to our national defense. That was the position every previous time we debated a CR. We should not have a full-year CR for DOD. Would you have closed the government down? Would that have been the... That isn't what was really in front of us. But the debate inside the Democratic Party over exactly whether we should have voted for or against that CR is dwarfed by the unanimity in the Democratic Party that we shouldn't be cutting Medicaid to pay for more tax cuts. Do you think that Chuck Schumer did the right thing? Look, he had a credible argument, a strong argument, that to shut the government down right now, given the widespread cuts to different federal programs that are in violation of law and, according to several court decisions, unconstitutional.

23:52I understand why he made that decision. I do. Who's the figurehead now? Figurehead. Who's the leader of the Democratic Party right now? We don't have a president that's a Democrat right now, so you've got a leader in the House, a leader in the Senate, a new DNC leader. Is he damaged Senator Schumer at this point? You think he will will he be minority leader in a couple of years? That depends on whether he chooses to run again. If you mean, you know, four years from now, look, I think he will likely be our leader again in the next Congress. This is something we choose at the beginning of every Congress.

24:27He's tough. He's a New Yorker. He's aggressive. And that's what I think Democrats are looking for in this moment. There was a striking outcome in a state Senate race in Lancaster, where my wife is from. where a district that was plus 15 for Trump just elected a Democrat for state Senate. As you saw in your previous segment here, all the indicators, consumer confidence, projections for inflation, are going in the wrong direction. And there is widespread anger among those who said, I voted for President Trump because he was going to bring my costs down. Costs aren't going down. They're going up.

25:03Well, he's got the highest approval rating in his. He didn't have it ever this high in his first term. We've got the highest right track. A majority of Americans disapprove of what he's doing on the economy. Okay, now you're parsing. And business leaders who come in to meet with me. But it's still the highest they have. And right track, wrong track, highest level at 45 % since 2004. People elected him to do these things, and they're still on board with him for the most part. I don't think people elected him to put tariffs on, take tariffs off, put tariffs on, take tariffs off, and raise our costs.