Opening Bid Unfiltered

Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst and seasoned investor in tech giants, shares insights on navigating today’s unpredictable venture capital landscape. He highlights how AI is transforming healthcare, making it more efficient and accessible. Taneja discusses the role of humanoid robots in caregiving and the pressing need for innovative energy solutions to support AI's rise. He emphasizes the importance of values and agility for founders facing geopolitical challenges and explores advancements in military technology from companies like Androal Industries.

The year has turned a bit south for those heavy hitters in the private equity industry as Trump trade turmoil ratchets up angst with companies and top leaders. The value of global buyout deals in the second quarter of this year is poised to drop by 16% compared to the first quarter, according to a new report from consultancy Bain. For the first time in a decade, no buyout fund closed in the first quarter raised more than $5 billion, the report found. Across alternative asset classes, demand now outstrips supply by three times – making it the largest imbalance dating back to 2011. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down on the Opening Bid podcast with Permira co-CEO Brian Ruder. Permira is a major player in the private equity industry, with a specialty in the consumer and technology spaces. Since being founded in 1985, it has put more than $80 billion of capital to work on deals. Some of its most headline-grabbing plays have been an early stake in Klarna (KLAR.PVT) in 2015 and a deal last year to purchase Squarespace for $6.9 billion. The company boasts 80 companies as part of its investment portfolio. Ruder shares with Sozzi how Permira is navigating the more challenging backdrop for the private equity industry in terms of doing deals to exiting prior ones. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charting a path toward domination of the digital universe. Roblox is fresh off a better-than-expected first quarter as it gained traction in new gaming genres such as racing and sports amongst children over the age of 13. Sales, daily active users, and bookings all increased by double-digit percentages. Sales clocked in at $1.03 billion, up 29% from the prior year. Bookings—a measure of in-game currency sales—gained 31% to $1.2 billion. Average daily users improved 26% to 97.8 million. Total hours of engagement on the platform increased 30% to 21.7 billion. Roblox (RBLX) had a really strong Q1, with revenue, bookings, and daily active users all up by double digits compared to the same quarter last year. For the full year, Roblox sees revenue of $4.3 billion to $4.365 billion, up about 19.5% year over year. Adjusted operating profits are forecast between $205 million and $265 million. At the midpoint, it would equate to adjusted operating profit growth of about 28%. The strong start to the year has pushed Roblox shares to a 52-week high. Shares are up 165% over the past year. So what’s next for Roblox? Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi talks on the Opening Bid podcast with Roblox founder and CEO Dave Baszucki. Baszucki shares his plans to simulate reality at scale, improve a fledgling advertising business, and take more market share away from traditional video games. He also pushes back on the notion that Roblox isn’t safe for children. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The US economy is showing mixed trends at best as the Trump administration continues to overhaul the global trading system. First quarter GDP fell 0.3%, but is expected to bounce back slightly in the second quarter. Consumer confidence has been on a downtrend. And the world’s biggest consumer companies, including Walmart, Target, and Starbucks, have warned about sluggish spending trends by households. On the flip side, the stock market has recovered from the Liberation Day lows, which has helped to support sentiment among some households. So, where is the economy headed next, given the whirlwind of factors it’s facing? Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi talks on the Opening Bid podcast with Visa Chief Economist Wayne Best. Best is an economics veteran, armed with everything from insights on consumer spending from Visa (V) card swipes to the impact on the economy from the wealth effect of higher stock prices. Sozzi and Best discuss the economy’s biggest challenges and potential surprises. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wild movements in the bond market have been one of the biggest stories on Wall Street in 2025. In part, the climb in yields on US debt has reflected rising concerns about the country’s fiscal position. Those worries have now been compounded by a new Trump tax bill that promises to add trillions to the US’s already bloated deficit. While professionals say investors haven’t lost trust in the US’s ability to honor its debt, they will continue to demand higher yields to compensate for the rising risk. That could have major ramifications in markets for everything from the demand for Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock to housing. Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi talks on the Opening Bid podcast with BlackRock (BLK) Global Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income Rick Rieder, one of the top minds in the bond market. Rieder reveals his latest thinking on fixed income as he manages $2.7 trillion in assets at BlackRock. Rieder also weighs in on the outlook for stocks in the face of what could be higher interest rates for longer from the Federal Reserve. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm since 2021 and a 30-year industry veteran, shares insights on Qualcomm's evolution from a communications-focused company to a major player in the chip industry. He discusses a recent strategic trip to Saudi Arabia to secure a partnership for AI data centers. Amon highlights the importance of diversifying Qualcomm's business away from its dependence on Apple, exploring new opportunities in industrial applications and the Android market. The conversation also delves into the implications of trade tensions for their significant Chinese market.

Nothing lasts forever. And that old adage apparently applies to the once untouchable US credit rating. The US has lost its last triple-A credit rating, thanks to Moody’s. Moody’s downgraded the US credit rating, blaming large fiscal deficits and rising interest costs. To longtime watchers of the country’s fiscal position, the move by Moody’s comes as no surprise. Deficits have ballooned amid decades of government overspending. The issue stands to worsen in coming years as baby boomers retire and put pressure on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. While somewhat symbolic at this point, the action of Moody’s could have negative consequences for the US Treasury market as it calls into question the ability of the country to repay its debts at some point in the future. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi welcomes to the Opening Bid mic Brookings Institute vice president and director of economic studies Ben Harris. Harris is one of those aforementioned longtime watchers of the US government debt position. He was also a central player in the presidency of Joe Biden in terms of crafting detailed economic plans for the country. What does Harris think about the Trump administration’s handling of the economy? Sozzi and Harris discuss! Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Ross, the Founder and CEO of Groq, discusses the innovative landscape of AI with insights from his experience designing custom chips at Google. He outlines the game-changing potential of Groq's language processing units (LPUs) versus Nvidia’s GPUs, highlighting competitive dynamics and challenges like HBM supply constraints. Ross shares his experiences from a recent tech trip to Saudi Arabia, explores the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, and reveals unique funding strategies vital for growing Groq's infrastructure.

There is arguably no better economic indicator than following demand trends from the largest railroad operators in the United States. Railroads, such as Warren Buffett-owned Burlington Northern and rivals Union Pacific (UNP) and CSX (CSX), haul everything from car parts to steel to coal to food. Therefore, whether the economy is doing badly or well is often captured in the top and bottom lines of railroads, more so than in wonky, backward-looking economic data from the government. With tariffs from the Trump administration starting to weigh on the economy, investors would be wise to check in on railroad operating performance. That’s just what the Yahoo team has done. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down on the Opening Bid podcast with CSX Corp.'s Joe Hinrichs to discuss current business trends amid the Trump tariff war. Hinrichs has a very unique view of the tariff situation, as he was a long-time top executive at Ford tasked with running its global operations. Are railroads predicting a recession? Does Trump’s ‘Made in America’ focus spell opportunity for railroads long-term? Sozzi and Hinrichs dig in! Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One interesting call out from the latest earnings season is that big-time investments in AI continue despite signs the Trump administration’s tariff policy is weighing on the economy. Earnings results from AI leaders such as Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META) all indicated aggressive spending on AI projects to support demand from customers. You wouldn’t necessarily put Goldman Sachs in the camp of big AI spenders – but you would be wrong not to do so. The investment bank is investing in generative AI across the company to speed up things such as deal analysis to mundane back-office tasks. Leading the charge on AI at Goldman Sachs is former Amazon AWS exec Marco Argenti. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi welcomes Argenti to the Opening Bid roundtable to discuss the work being done on the AI front by one of the most prominent investment banks in the world. Argenti says AI will increasingly be embedded into the work of Goldman’s 46,000 employees as it strives for operational efficiencies. The question is, will it make life easier for often overworked junior investment bankers, or are these pet AI projects that may have little return? Sozzi and Argenti dive in! Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor - before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid is hosted by Brian Sozzi, and produced by Langston Sessoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices