Big Boss Interview

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Big Boss Interview episodes

February 03, 2022 Meta's stock plunges after profit declines
It's been a bad day for Big Tech. Shares in Facebook's parent company, Meta, dropped 20% in after-hours trading, following the release of its Q4 figures for the end of 2021 and its numbers for the whole calendar year. Meta wasn't the only big loser. Spotify shares were initially down 30% after their earnings release – and the period covered pre-dated the Joe Rogan controversy. After the initial shock, shares recovered some of their losses.
There's a warning from the global investment management firm BNY Mellon IM that some companies are missing out on potentially as much as three trillion dollars' worth of investment because they are not attracting female investors. Anne-Marie McConnon from BNY Mellon discusses their findings.
Also in the programme, we have a report from Wolverhampton - a city in the Black Country in England - so named for the pollution created by the mines, furnaces and factories of the past. It's one of 20 places which the UK government has announced will benefit from the so called Levelling Up money.
And - 20 years ago, America's National Football League introduced the Rooney Rule, in an attempt to increase the number of black and ethnic minority candidates hired to NFL coaching and executive positions. One black coach, Brian Flores, is now suing the league, alleging teams invited him for head coach job interviews purely to pad out their Rooney Rule statistics. Jeremi Duru is a law professor at the American University in Washington DC, helped draw up the Rooney Rule, and gives us his reaction to the lawsuit.
Fergus Nicoll is joined by Sharon Bretkelly in Auckland, New Zealand and Ralph Silva in Toronto.
PHOTO: Getty Images
54 min
February 02, 2022 US pharma giants to pay Native Americans $590 million over opioids
America's three biggest pharmaceutical distributors and Johnson & Johnson have been ordered to pay up to $665 million to native American tribal communities devastated by the opioid crisis. More than 400 tribes sued the companies, claiming they were inundated with highly addictive painkillers manufactured by J&J and shipped by the distributors who ignored clear signs of abuse and death. We hear from Lloyd Miller, one of the lead attorneys representing a third of the litigating tribes.
Tom Brady, one of the greatest players in the history of the American National Football League or NFL, has confirmed his retirement. As quarterback for The Tampa Bay Buccaneers he won seven Super Bowls in an astonishing career spanning 22 seasons. Thirty years ago the idea of a pro-football quaretrback in his 40s would have been unthinkable. But science has changed all that. We speak with sports writer and ex player Chris Ballard.
The Winter Olympics start in Beijing on Friday. Many countries are officially boycotting the games over claims of human rights abuses in China, and now allegations are surfacing of athletes being forced to install spyware on their devices. We have an extended report from Ed Butler.
It is one year since the coup in Myanmar when the military seized control following a general election which Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party won by a landslide. The former chief Minsister of Myanmar's Shan State Dr Linn Htut was among those imprisoned immediately after the coup. His son, after some 11 months in hiding, escaped to the UK to work as an artist and peace activist.
Jamie Robertson is joined throughout the show by Alison Van Diggelen of Fresh Dialogues in California and writer and journalist Madhavan Narayanan in Delhi.
PHOTO: Getty Images
54 min
February 01, 2022 Russian and US envoys clash at the UN Security Council
We start the programme looking at the the angry clashes between Russian and US envoys at the UN Security Council. The US called a meeting to discuss the build up of some 100,000 Russian troops on on its borders with Ukraine. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the mobilisation was the biggest Europe had seen in decades. Her Russian counterpart accused the US of fomenting hysteria and unacceptable interference in Russia's affairs.
The US and UK have promised further sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said legislation was being prepared which would target a wider range than currently of individuals and businesses close to the Kremlin. A US official said Washington's sanctions meant individuals close to the Kremlin would be cut off from the international financial system.
Next we spoke to our North American Tech Correspondent James Clayton about whether Spotify had to take responsibility for the material it was hosting - and what the implications of and responsibility were.
Over to Africa where just recently, Warner Music in the US bought a controlling stake in a Johannesburg business which bills itself as “the home of African music”. We hear from Mike Johnson in an extended report about what it all means for a new generation of African artists.
Later this week, Beijing will become the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. This year's Games have given the authorities a huge logistical challenge: how to put on one of the world’s biggest sporting events in a country still committed to “zero-covid” at a time when the omicron variant is spreading rapidly in many parts of the world. The answer has been to enforce enormous, strict, separation bubbles - as our China Correspondent Stephen McDonell tells us.
Lastly, Belgian civil servants will no longer need to answer emails or phone calls out of hours after the country became the latest in Europe to offer workers the right to disconnect. The law comes into effect on Tuesday and means that 65,000 federal officials are able to make themselves unavailable at the end of the normal working day unless there are “exceptional” reasons for not doing so.
Throughout the programme we are joined by Diane Brady, the assistant Managing Editor of Forbes and Mehmal Sarfraz – the Co-founder of the online news and lifestyle platform The Current PK.
(IMAGE CREDIT: GETTY)
53 min
January 28, 2022 US economy grows at 6.9%
Figures released on Thursday in the US showed that the American economy grew at its fastest pace since 1984, expanding by 5.7 percent during 2021.The BBC's North America Business Correspondent, Samira Hussein talks us through the story. We then turn to question of how teachers are navigating hybrid education. Also on the programme, President Biden has confirmed that his first nominee to the US Supreme Court will be an African-American woman. Fergus Nicoll is joined by Kimberly Adams of our US partner station Marketplace in Washington DC and Samson Ellis, Taipei Bureau Chief for Bloomberg News.
Produced by: Nisha Patel, Elizabeth Hotson and Gabriele Shaw
(Picture: A car production line in California. Picture credit: Getty Images.)
53 min
January 27, 2022 WTO lets China impose tariffs on the US
The World Trade Organisation has authorised China to impose retaliatory duties on US imports to a value of more than 600 million dollars per year. Beijing had challenged American tariffs levied on Chinese exports ranging from solar panels to steel wire - goods made by companies that Washington insists are effectively enjoying state subsidies. David Firestein - President of the George HW Bush Foundation for US-China Relations - explained the background.
Next we head to Italy - where a row has broken out between the government and some of the country's biggest companies. It's because of President Putin speaking to Italian business leaders on Wednesday morning - to the irritation of the government in Rome, which is sensitive to its international position amid growing tension over Ukraine.
Then we take a look at student debt which is a massive burden for millions of Americans - making those college years look a little less rosy in the rear-view mirror. 80 members of the US Senate and House of Representatives have called on President Biden to make good on his campaign promises to forgive student debt - starting right off the bat with an immediate 50k reduction. Former students shared their experiences and we also heard from Laura Beamer at the Jain Family Institute.
Lastly, would it surprise you to discover that many K-Pop stars - enjoying huge success in the South Korean music scene - commission some of their most successful tracks from ... Sweden? Fergus Nicholls spoke to one of Stockholm's most successful writers, Moa Carlebecker - better known by her stage name, Cazzi Opeia.
54 min
January 26, 2022 IMF downgrades the forecast for the global economy
The International Monetary Fund has downgraded its forecast for the global economy - trimming half a percentage point off its projection - now at 4.4 per cent. The IMF's First Deputy Managing Director, Gita Gopinath tells us the focus right now is on the world’s two biggest economies - the US and China - neither of which, the IMF believes, will be immune to the slowdown. India and Japan, by contrast, are forecast to buck the trend.
Also in the programme we discuss how Walmart has joined a couple of big venture capital firms in investing in a vertical farming company called Plenty - and is already committing to carrying its produce in all its California outlets. Leo Marcelis takes us through the benefits of the concept. He's the Professor of Horticulture and Product Physiology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Glenn Hubbard is Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia University in the United States. He tells us about his new book where he discusses economic routes towards what Edmund Phelps called "mass flourishing".
Also in the programme, the BBC's Ed Butler reports on how drug cartels in Mexico have turned to innovative solutions to continue smuggling drugs across the border into the United States.
Presenter Fergus Nicholl is joined by Erin Delmore in the US and Peter Landers in Japan.
PHOTO CREDT: GETTY IMAGES
54 min
January 25, 2022 Ukraine: US troops on high alert over stand-off
Some 8,500 combat-ready US troops are on high alert to deploy at short notice amid rising tension over Ukraine, the Pentagon says. President Biden held a video call with European allies on Monday as Western powers aim for a common strategy against Russian aggression.
The Pentagon said no decision had yet been made on whether to deploy troops. We assess Russia's position in the dispute with Chris Weafer, who is chief executive of the Moscow-based economic consultancy Macro Advisory.
Also in the programme, the Australian mining giant Fortescue Metals has bought the battery and technology arm of the Williams Formula One racing team. Craig Williams is chief executive of Williams Advanced Engineering, and tells us what makes the organisation attractive.
Google is facing concerns from Germany's largest publishers and advertisers, which are asking the EU to intervene over the search giant's plan to stop the use of third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser. Javier Espinoza from the Financial Times brings us the background.
Also in the programme - Bob Dylan sells his entire recording catalogue to Sony Music.
PHOTO: US troops/Getty Images
53 min
January 21, 2022 Massive blast in Ghana
We start the programme in Ghana where there's been a huge explosion close to the town of Bogoso. Afua Adom from Metro TV gives us insight on the accident from Accra. There's been a dramatic consequence of last week's submarine volcanic eruption and resulting tsunami in Tonga. The government of Peru says it's now grappling with the country's worst ecological disaster in years - because the tsunami prompted an oil spill at a refinery on the coast at Ventanilla. Simeon Tegel, a freelance reporter based in Lima speaks with us. What's it like for a business operating in the midst of one of the world's geo-political hot spots? We speak with Oleg Chernyak who works for a software development company, CHI Software, near the eastern border with Russia. Rising food and fuel prices are making daily life tougher for the people of Sri Lanka. Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from Columbo. It has been one of the success stories of the pandemic but is the show over for Netflix. It has just released its results for the fourth quarter and its missed its subscriber targets – we speak with Liz Duff from Total Media. Throughout the programme we’re joined by Andres Franzetti - Chief Executive Officer at Risk Cooperative and Dimuthu Attanayake - a Journalist and Researcher (big data & policy) from Sri Lanka.
(Photo: Damage after an explosion in Bogoso Credit: Ernest Lartey)
53 min
January 20, 2022 Biden defends his first year
President Biden has held a rare press conference to mark a year in office. Biden has defended his administration’s response to the global economic impact of the pandemic and concerns over supply chain problems. We speak to the BBC's Gary O'Donoghue outside the West Wing. Also in the programme, the vice president of the European Securities and Markets Authority has called for a ban in the European Union on mining of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, on environmental grounds. Erik Thedeen explains his thinking. Plus, more than 100 billionaires and millionaires have issued a plea to political and business leaders, asking them to make the super rich pay more tax. Rahul Tandon is joined throughout the programme by Hayley Woodin, executive editor of Business in Vancouver and James Mayger Bloomberg’s China Economics Reporter.
Picture: President Biden Holds A Press Conference At The White House Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty
53 min
January 19, 2022 Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard for nearly $70bn
Microsoft says it plans to buy major games company Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7bn. It would be the biggest acquisition in the company's history and is expected to be finalised in 2023. We speak to Carolina Milanese, Senior Technology Analyst at Creatrive Strategies to find out why Microsoft has done the deal. US mobile networks AT&T and Verizon have agreed to postpone the rollout of their new 5G service at some airports, after aircraft safety concerns from some airlines. Also in the programme, Spain's government is taking action to try and help young people find housing, by approving a "youth bonus" voucher system worth €250 per month to help with rent costs. Eduardo Alonso Arechaga is a member of the Spanish Youth Council, which represents young Spaniards, and gives us his reaction to the news. There's been a big rise recently in the number of young people trading on the financial markets, and many are using mobile phone apps which are designed to make the process fun. The BBC's Rob Young reports on the potential pitfalls involved in the so-called gamification of stock market trading. Jamie Robertson is joined throughout the programme by Patrick Barta, Asia Enterprise Editor for Wall Street Journal in Bangkok and Takara Small, technology reporter for CBC in Toronto.
Photo: Activision Blizzard logo Credit: NurPhoto/Getty
53 min

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Big Boss Interview is where the most high-profile chief executives and entrepreneurs come to give you their insights and experiences of running the world's biggest and well-known businesses. The…