Gary Vaynerchuk, the outspoken CEO of creative agency VaynerMedia, checked in with Cheddar before the weekend to share his views on the biggest stories this week.
On creating jobs in the digital economy post-COVID:
"We've seen this before. When there's huge technology advancements, things evolve," he said.
Rather than focusing on the jobs being lost to technological changes, Vaynerchuk emphasized the "millions" of jobs being created around capturing and producing online content. He pointed to the emergence of “non-fungible tokens” or NFTs, which are digital certificates on the Ethereum blockchain that authenticate ownership of a digital asset and can be bought and sold.
Digital economy evangelists such as Vaynerchuk see NFTs as crucial to monetizing the web.
"It feels like a sea change: the blockchain, the ledgerization [or] digitalization of all goods, the way music is distributed, books, the way art and collectibles are sold, the way season tickets can be sold."
The goal, Vaynerchuk explained, is for the NFT market to set prices for the online economy.
On the possibility of new regulations for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies:
"Regulation is the elephant in the room," he said.
On the one hand, he said bitcoin has gotten "over the hump" of gaining legitimacy with the general public, but that it now presents a challenge to sovereign nations on what steps they will take to regulate the cryptocurrency, and how those actions could impact its long-term success.
"I think it's going to be extremely interesting over the next half-a-decade to a decade to see what happens, and how much momentum will that currency, that community have versus what happens if it gets overregulated," he said.
On the upcoming direct listing of Coinbase, a digital currency exchange:
"You don't see companies doing this level of revenue profitably before an IPO, with a trend that is so macro that they're dominating in," said Vaynerchuk, who disclosed that he invested in the company back in 2014. "So, I'm just very curious what the market is going to do with it, but they have a lot of good math on their side."
China's largest ride-hailing company will no longer be listed on the world's largest stock exchange. Didi shareholders voted on Monday to delist from the New York Stock Exchange, less than a year after launching a $4.4 billion IPO with the most significant U.S. share offering by a Chinese company since Alibaba debuted in 2014. Since going public in June of last year, around $70 billion has been wiped from Didi's market value and shares of the company have dropped nearly 90%. Now, Didi is expected to begin preparations to list in Hong Kong. Kevin T. Carter, founder and Chief Investment Officer of EMQQ Global, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Ahead of the Meta shareholder meeting, more than five hundred doctors have jointly sent a letter to investors to hold the Facebook parent accountable for the risks its platforms have posed to the public and mental health. Dr. Rob Davidson, a West Michigan ER physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, joined Cheddar News to discuss how medical professionals are coming together to highlight the social media giant's spread of misinformation, especially during the pandemic. "We've seen the direct impacts of misinformation and disinformation that spreads like wildfire on the social media platforms," he said. "Our goal with this letter is to try to get the shareholders of Meta to convince leadership that they need to do a better job."
Snap downgraded its earnings and revenue expectations for the second quarter, saying the "macroeconomic environment" has deteriorated faster than the company anticipated. The warning sent shockwaves through the digital ad industry, dragging down a handful of other tech stocks, including Pinterest, Meta, and Twitter. Daniel Cobb, CEO and Chief Strategy Officer of Daniel Brian Advertising, joined Cheddar to discuss the reason behind this warning, and why it's bringing so many social media stocks down.
Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development, joins Cheddar to discuss how perceptions of Environmental, Social, and Governance–or ESG–changed over the past couple of years, and how using machine learning and artificial intelligence could pave the way to a more sustainable future.
Bob Lockett, Chief Diversity & Talent Officer, ADP, joins Cheddar to break down why offering more flexibility at work is a top way to retain talent at work, and how strong DEI policies help encourage employee loyalty.
