Burgers. Is a fights, lacroix became the market darling of sparkling water but it is losing ground. Jason joel weber is with us. Joel we wanted to do this story in a summer issue. It is the zeitgeist of summer. One thing that has happened is consumers have shifted away from soda and embraced sparkling waters. Lacroix has really encapsulated that and it boomed. Thisng riding enthusiasm. All of a sudden it has gotten competitive. Taylor we learned a lot about their competitors, mainly pepsi and cocacola. Joel they are owned by National Beverage and that is a big part of their portfolio. But going against cocacola or pepsi, once they opened their war chest and looked at sparkling water, they can say we know how to put that in a can. Jason that is coming in from the top, then you have craft movement. Weve seen it in beer and food, now it is sparkling water. Joel it is what they introduced the marketplace. Lacroix basically invented the category and rejuvenated it, and they are met on both sides. Taylor we learned as well about the founder and ceo, what is he like . Joel this is a person who came into his own and saw an opportunity, then has ridden this bloom. He is idiosyncratic. To say the least. Jason a lot of great anecdotes. We will hear more on that later on. Thank you so much. We turn now from bubbles to recessions. Taylor after the yield curve inverted, it did spark warnings of a looming recession. I wonder, does an inverted yield curve mean recession is coming . That is what it has historically meant. Records going back to the 19th century, it is a reliable precursor of recession. Does it mean that this time . While, there are a couple things. The yield curve inverted briefly, then stopped inverting and came back again. It is an often on kind of thing. Off and on kind of thing. But more importantly, the yield curve does not mean what it used to mean. That is because even in normal times it is flatter than it used to be. It is flat to start with. It is more likely a tick down into inversion. Jason talk about this in the broader economic landscape. One thing we saw and talked a 10 a time about on the radio show is a concern we may be talking ourselves into recession at a time when things are going well. Bloomberg had the ceo of bank of america saying that, echoing franklin roosevelt, the only thing we have to fear about recession is fearing recession. And i think thats a good point. Jim polson said the same thing, he is optimistic and yet he is helping the fed will cut a half percentage point in september just to get ahead of the recession talk. Taylor when we talk about the yield curve, you know inflation more than anyone else. Is that part of what is driving that curve flatter . The yield curve is reflecting not just the actual outlook for inflation, but the uncertainty about the inflation outlook. If you think inflation will be 2 , but in the back of your mind it might jump to 4 , you will pay less for a longterm bond and make its yield higher. Whereas if you are confident that inflation is not a problem, if you are worried about deflation with 16 trillion of negative yielding debt around the world, it might be that we want a lower yield. Jason thoughtprovoking as always. Coming up, two peas in a pod. Sort of like us. Will Boris Johnson try to out trump trump in france at the g7 summit . Taylor we break down the health care debate. This is Bloomberg Businessweek. Jason welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am jason kelly. Taylor i am taylor riggs. Join us every day on the radio. Starting at 2 p. M. Wall street time. Show by up on our daily losing to our podcast on Apple Podcast and soundcloud. Jason find us online at businessweek. Com and our mobile app. In this weeks International Cover story, President Trump and other World Leaders are set to meet in france to discuss major global challenges at this years g7 summit. I spoke with the executive editor and bureau chief craig gordon on what to expect. The most interesting thing we will be watching for, the sitdown between donald trump and Boris Johnson. Talk about two peas in a pod. This is johnsons first g7 since becoming Prime Minister. They are likeminded and have the same politics. We will be seeing if johnson tries to outshine donald trump who tries to make a big figure at these events. He is making a trip to europe and will meet the rest of the g7, that will be what everyone is watching. Trump, johnson, the throwdown. How does it go . Jason keep me honest here. In one of the g7s, that is the famous moment where trump literally elbowed somebody out of the way. The g7 has been lively as of late. It was officially a nato summit it was attached to g7. He pushed aside the Prime Minister of montenegro who later said the president should be in the front row, not me. Ok. Ke, well, ok the g7 last year was where they signed a communique, and the famous picture of merkel glaring at him. Trump gets on air force one to fly home and tweets, i withdraw my support for the communique because he was mad at justin trudeau. These tend to be moments of high drama. There are only seven of them, and they are in a room and take up a lot of oxygen. On the substantive side, what great timing, the World Economy is starting to slow down and germany teetering on recession, the u. S. Still has strong numbers. What a great time to get the leaders of the seven most important economies together to talk about it. Will they do anything to solve it or put stimulus in there . We do not think so. This may be a squandered opportunity. Can they do anything to put the brakes on this slowdown in the Global Economy . Jason europe, it is safe to say, has had a complicated relationship with President Trump. And there is a great story about this relationship between macron and merkel. Macron is the host of this, and Angela Merkel outgoing to a large extent. This is been more of an uneasy alliance. Thats right. Going back to Boris Johnson, these summits tend to the six versus one, one being donald trump. Name your topic, it usually six versus one. You could have five versus two. Trump and johnson may make common cause on some issues. Within the five or six unified european leaders, big fractures. Macron wants to be the king of europe, and Angela Merkel does not like that. They sparred over that but held it together on the rand. Trump has pulled out of it. Boris johnson is not a fan of it although he reaffirmed support for it. Merkel and macron have held together. Even there, it is kind of framing. Fraying. France and germany would love to do more business with iran. Trump tends to be the main storyline, so you have intriguing subplot. Where does abe fit in . Is there turmoil in italy overshadowing the meeting . To, will be fun to watch, especially the european unity that they have held together, i do not think they will do it a third time. Jason you mentioned brexit, that will be top of mind. Will Boris Johnson start to negotiate in public with the eu leaders about what the elements are . We seem to be heading for a no deal brexit, and that is coming up at the end of october. That next deadline. Much like the seven most important people talking about the economy, you also have the same to talk about exit. Brexit. As an american watching from afar, it feels like the u. K. Leaders are playing like it pair of threes, but they act like they had a royal flush. I dont really understand and europeans, you get the sense, a kind of tired of this conversation. Boris is not offering them anything different. It does look like crashing out. They will have a chance to talk about it, but hard to see substantive progress being made. Taylor turning to politics in the u. S. , on the campaign trail democrats are in a heated debate about how to do achieve their goal of universal health coverage. Jason here is our reporter in washington. They have coalesced around a basic principle they want universal health care coverage. The United States is not there yet, but in terms of how to get there, there are differing opinions and deep divisions ranging from the idea of singlepayer health care where the government is the only insurance company, that is supported by Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren. Then the more moderate democrats want to make substantial changes. Joe biden supports adding to obamacare, also known as the aca, a governmentrun insurance option that people can look at the menu of private plans or if they want a public option. That is the debate now, and it has sparked intense rivalries and intense battling as they try to convince voters they have their finger on the pulse of what to do. Taylor from your conversations and reporting on the ground, what plans seem most likely to go forward . There are different answers. And there are different answers to them. The splashiest one is medicare for all. That is the Bernie Sanders singlepayer plan. That faces daunting obstacles in congress. Even if democrats win a wave of assuming they have the house and senate and white house, it is highly unlikely to get through because democrats oppose it as well. On the joe biden side you have the public option that obama tried to get into thousand 910, in 2009 and 2010. This will be difficult because it faces a 60 vote threshold in the senate where republicans could block it, and based on my reporting, they have no intentions of going along with that. Even the most modest democratic proposals face difficulties in congress. And not to mention, a Health Industry that is determined to kill them. They do not want a government run option to compete with private insurers because they would have to lower cost to compete. They are working to kill this thing. Jason still to come, protests in hong kong, what is underneath this era of rage. Taylor plus, how hong kong businesses are caught in the crosshairs. This is Bloomberg Businessweek. Jason welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am jason kelly. Taylor i am taylor riggs. You can also listen to us on the radio. Jason in london on dab digital. It through the bloomberg and through the Bloomberg Business app. Taylor in this weeks economic section, all eyes are on hong in june hong kong. In june, demonstrations were triggered by a government proposal that would allow china to extradite those accused of crime. The protests include a broader set of demands. Jason what is behind the antigovernment protests that continue to rock that city . The protesters have limited their specific demands to Political Goals like universal suffrage. But feeding into this anger and unrest is growing inequality in hong kong, and the sense that you do not have equal opportunity. This is a place that has had huge divisions between the haves and havenots. There was always the possibility are could would one of those people who strikes at rich, a lot of people dont feel that anymore. Taylor one of the Key Statistics that stuck out to me, hong kong comes back to the property market, and median property prices have climbed 21 times median household income. People can barely afford their homes. I think people do not understand what that means. We have this great graphic. London and San Francisco are under 10 of those ratios, and we think of those as pricey. People live in these gerrymandered subdivided apartments. We interviewed some of them and there have been some young people who have good jobs. Youth unemployment is not an issue. People are thinking about moving to taiwan and other places where they have more opportunity. Jason what happens next . Protests aside, what are the economic challenges that could change or not change in the near term . Carrie lam, the chief executive of hong kong, has to think about what she can do to appease these movements. That potentially is a problem for the people and hong kong who became rich from property, and that is almost every important billionaire in the territory. Because the island has a system it inherited from British Colonial rule where land is leased for long periods of time from the government, it has constrained supply and driven up prices. I do not think we will see a wholesale dismantling of the system, but the government has been toying with the idea of taking back some of the land they have given to developers who have not developed it. Jason theyre both of these stories in this whole section, we are reminded of the economic might and importance of hong kong in the broader world. This is not an isolated story. No, the founder of the biggest conglomerate in hong kong, almost half of that companys revenues come from europe, and this week they bought a restaurant in the u. K. That is one thing, it will hurt less if the government moves against the conglomerates now then it would have been 20 years ago, because they have become so diversified. Taylor this brings us nicely to another story, some of the sort of the hong kong billionaires, some of the Property Developers walking that fine line between needing help from beijing but not wanting to distract the protests. How are they walking that line . They have stopped short of backing lamb lam, instead backing her call for calm. Important. They are economically it hurts them. There was a forecast recently saying that hong kongs gdp will be shaved by 0. 3 this year, and property prices could fall 10 in 912 months because of the protests because it is hitting economic production. Tourists are not visiting. Stores are having to shut down along the routes of the demonstration. Jason the protests present a new reality for businesses as well. Taylor in this weeks business section, the cautionary tale of chinas crackdown on Cathay Pacific. Here is our editor. They are caught in the middle, and it is a lesson for other companies who do business in china about the dangers of being caught in this tugofwar. Tussle. Squire is the company who has a big stake in Cathay Pacific. It is an old british Trading House that has been in china since the 1800s, so it knows its way around and has different businesses. River travel, shipping, whatever, big business. It owns cocacola franchises in 11 provinces. And the city of shanghai, thats a big deal. They also own 45 of cathay. Ats company was really good knowing how to play the game in china. When the handover came in the 90s they decided the way to stick around was sell a piece of company to china to stay in beijings good graces. If anybody gets pushed out, usually the connected companies dont. They did that, and today they own 45 of Cathay Pacific, and air china owns 30 . That supposedly will keep you safe. The issue, however, when the protests came up, a lot of cathay employees were sympathetic, and that has sent the government off the rails, and they have used all the pressure that they can to make sure the company behaves. They came in and said, all the employees who participated should be banned from working in china. All of your employees who go in our airspace, you have to provide their names. You will also have a safety inspection. The thing is they know how to make it difficult to do business if you do not do business the right way. It is also a sign that china says you can play in our markets but you play by our rules. Taylor forcing the resignation of the Cathay Pacific chairman is one sign they sent that you have to play by our rules. It is a strong sign, but is it enough . One paper is saying they should do more because they have renegade employees. This is showing other companies that do business in hong kong, it is part of china and do not forget that. We have seen other companies pulled into this, Luxury Brands that had tshirts and apparel that suggested hong kong was its own country. They have been forced to apologize. There is a lot of backandforth, and on the opposite side of that, companies that have gone out of their way to say we think the government is great. Like hsbc. Then the protesters say hsbc has gone too far and is defending the government against demonstrators, and that has gotten them in trouble in the local market. What puts you in this weird position if you are a company, whether you are falling behind beijing but do business in hong kong then the locals are angry , at you. Jason still ahead, troubled waters. Its this weeks cover. Taylor plus, battling it out to make the best plantbased burgers. We size up the competition. Jason this is Bloomberg Businessweek. Jason welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am jason kelly. Taylor and i am taylor riggs. Still ahead, in the year that saw ipos from uber, lyft, and pinterest, the breakout star is a Company Making fake burgers. A look at beyond meat and the growing industry. Jason plus, a former Venture Capitalist bridging personal and professional wellness. I sat down with the founder of reset on how her new studio helps new yorkers go from burnout to balance. Taylor and how ralph russo has become the choice for billionaires and royals around the world. Jason but first, this weeks cover story is lacroix. Its colorful cans of bubbly used to fly off the shelves but today it is struggling in a crowded market. Shareholders are concerned about corporate mismanagement. Lacroix is the brand of sparkling water that most people have known and loved for many years. For the past three years, the brand has essentially had a lock on the market. For sparkling water as a major brand. In recent years in the past year and a half, there have been a number of competitors from the biggest soft drink companies in the world like coke and pepsi. They have introduced their own sparkling waters to compete, and as a result, they are under tremendous pressure to retain its status as a leader in the sparkling water market. They have had a little bit of trouble doing that. That is essentially where we are now. Taylor and before we talk about some of the competition, take me behind the company that is lacroix. And most poignantly, arguably would be the founder behind that. Who is he . What is he like . The ceo and founder of lacroix is a man named Nick Caporella. He is the ceo of the company which holds many beverages, it is called National Beverage corps. They started off as a soda company. Over the years, they acquired multiple brands and finally acquired lacroix in the 1990s. It was kind of a sleeper for a long time, they did not do much with the brand. Nobody drank that much sparkling water. Starting around 20102011 at a time when americans stopped drinking as much soda, they turned to alternatives like sparkling water. So nick, who is 83 years old and who started this company in 1985, he suddenly found himself the steward of what became an amazing brand and the leader of the sparkling water market and transformed the entire category. Jason to his credit, he really saw something. It feels like he leaned heavily into this and took a personal interest to the point where he considers this his baby in the words of some of the folks you interviewed. What did he do that was different from others . Early on, he recognized that the brand had potential because of its healthfulness. It did not have any sugar, it had no additives, really. When soda consumption fell and americans started drinking less, because of the concern over obesity and type two diabetes, he was one of the first brands to start transitioning and the in the market and saw lacroix as an alternative. As early as 2006, he partnered with the Breast Cancer foundation to sponsor these walks. It became sort of an early spot in the Health Market as an alternative to soda. So he did see the potential of the brand early on. Taylor so what happened since then . If you are a big leader early on, you have to constantly work to maintain that lead. Of course, other competitors came in. When did they peak, and what happened to contribute to the decline we have seen . Its a really interesting business story. The brand really started growing. It started pretty gradually, actually, when you look at the company and the transition up. 20112012, the stock increased a little bit. It had really been stagnant for a long time. 20142015, it started gaining momentum. There was a Critical Team inside lacroix working with Nick Caporella that really shaped the position of the brand. They decided to go after diet soda. They decided to really use social media at a time when that was not as prominent. The started trending on instagram and twitter and showing up in all kinds of photos and that kind of thing. It just gained steam. As a gain steam around 2015 or 2016, internally, there was already friction. As the brand became more popular, mr. Caporella became more involved in the brand. His dominating presence in the company, he is the owner and owns 74 of the stock, he really does drive the company and is the one with the most power. But it started rubbing some people the wrong way. They felt he was not listening to their input or taking their advice. It did result around 2016 in a number of highprofile executives that had worked on the brand for years leaving the company, and that left a power and knowledge vacuum. Jason and that happening at maybe not coincidently, at a time when you have pepsi coming into the market. Youve got cocacola coming in. So you have these topend, massive Beverage Companies coming in. And you have some Venture Capitalists, and private equitybacked startups coming in from the lower end. And as you alluded to a classic case of a market dominated Company Getting squeezed from both sides. So where are we now . Right now, they are essentially defending their place in the market. They are entirely under siege from so many places. I think it has caught them off guard. They took a very long time to realize internally just how much the competition was going to affect them. Right now, they are in battle mode. Jason up next, impossible foods has burger king and beyond meat has whole foods. Taylor we explain the fake burger phenomenon and where you can get them. Jason this is Bloomberg Businessweek. Jason welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am jason kelly. Taylor i am taylor riggs. Join us for Bloomberg Businessweek every day on the radio starting at 2 00 p. M. Wall street time. You can also catch up on our daily show by listening to our podcast. Jason and find us online at businessweek. Com and through our mobile app. Taylor this week, fake meat goes mainstream. Jason here is the explainer on the star of the movement and its competition. Beyond meat ceo loves talking about his big burgers, but dont ask him about the shares. His value has soared almost 500 after the ipo. He says he does not like to talk about the stock price. Beyond meat has been the star of a movement thats been trying to take vegan products mainstream. Still, beyonds real competition isnt the major Food Companies it is impossible foods, another , california startup producing socalled bleeding burgers. Each Company Claims to have a superior product. For now, beyond has the numbers. Its burgers are sold in 53,000 locations, including supermarkets and restaurants. That is more than three times as many as impossible. And beyond has another product line that may impress consumers, more than the burgers, sausages. Both Companies Benefit from consumers focusing on the benefits of a diet without red meat, but critics say that when it comes to nutrition, there is little difference between a fake burger and the meat in a mcdonalds quarter pounder. So the nutrition may be debatable but investors are convinced. In a year that saw ipos from uber, lyft, pinterest, the clear breakout star was beyond meat. Taylor if you come to my terminal at gtv , in white, we taking a look at the share price. And turquoise, it is the bloomberg estimate of the aggregate price target. At one point, the shares were up 800 from the ipo. Second quarter earnings were ok. There were a few things that made people nervous, and you are seeing a leveling out trading at 1. 5, the average analyst price target. You are wondering maybe this is competition coming on the horizon. Jason well it has had an amazing run. For more on what is driving that phenomenon and the stock price, we spoke with a reporter behind the story. It was a combination of a few factors. The first is that people have started to care about their health. They see anything with the word plant as being healthier. Its not necessarily healthier, but people think it is. So they buy it for that reason. There is also a lot of drive coming from young people who want to do better by the environment. Beef production is a major source of manmade emissions and so replacing beef is a popular way to reduce emissions and its a lot easier to get an impossible burger than it is to buy a prius. And the technology has gotten so much better. Bill gates was one of the early investors in both companies. He made it so that this became an area that was not just for vegans and not just for people trying something new, it became an actual place to invest. So Companies Like impossible foods and beyond meat were able to ramp up what they were doing. Jason i feel like almost every day on our daily show, we are talking about beyond meats stock prices. Its incredible. Taylor incredible, but i want you to square with me something i have been trying to understand. If i go to white castle, im going for unhealthy, not the nutrition. Im going because i want a bad burger. Why would i go to white castle to get a fake meat burger . Deena that is a really good question. I think what the company would tell you is that you go to white castle and say i feel like doing something a little better for the environment, so i will go with the slider, and it will taste exactly the same. Does it taste exactly the same . I think most would say no. But it tastes close enough, and what white castle is saying is that people are coming in and getting meat sliders with their plant sliders and mixing it up and trying something new. Taylor the stock price is phenomenal. Do they say there is more room to run . How do the stock prices compare between impossible and beyond meat . Deena beyond meats ceo did not want to talk about the stock price and i dont blame him. I would not want to either, it might jinx yourself. Jason major ipo of the year. Deena yeah, since the recession. It has been incredible to watch, and something i dont think anybody was expecting to happen. But it has gone all the way up to more than 230. Now its back down a little bit. Jason there is an 8 billion Market Cap Company give or take. Deena give or take. It peaked at over 14 billion. There are some questions about whether or not they really have the revenue to justify that kind of market cap. But i think the bet is on the potential more than what they are doing today or tomorrow. Impossible is still in a startup phase, so they are not public and a lot of questions are swirling around over whether they will go public. Right now, they are saying not right now, but they are not for closing it for the future. The other companies, tyson is so huge, nestle is so huge. Hard to say. But at the same time, if one of them lands in mcdonalds, my guess would be the stock would go up that day. Jason and that is the holy grail. Mcdonalds is the question everybody gets asked. Nobody has an answer yet, but burger king was a big move, mcdonalds will be even bigger. Deena yes, mcdonalds will be much, much bigger. When mcdonalds gets into any kind of market, they totally change the whole way that market operates. They changed apples, they changed potatoes, they changed chicken. Everybody wants to be up to sell to be able to sell to mcdonalds. If beyond meat goes to mcdonalds, i think the price at the supermarket would go down. They would have to make so much of it. Jason from burnout to balance, using a holistic approach to professional growth. I sat down with former vc liz tran on her new studio called reset. Taylor and the clothing of choice for royalty and celebrities. Jason this is Bloomberg Businessweek. Jason welcome back to Bloomberg Businessweek. I am jason kelly. Taylor and i am taylor riggs. You can also listen to us on the radio on sirius xm channel 119, and on a. M. 1130 in new york, 106. 1 in boston, 99. 1 f. M. In washington, d. C. Jason a. M. 960 in the bay area, in london on dab digital, and through the Bloomberg Business app. Work burnout is a struggle for many of us. That, and finding some semblance of worklife balance. I sat down with liz tran, the founder of reset. It is a studio in new york city. I talked to her about her new venture and how is taking a holistic approach to bridging personal and professional wellness. It involves sound best. Check it out. Liz reset is a place where we are uniting all forms of professional and personal growth. On any given day, we might have a team of executives from a startup coming in to learn about Team Dynamics and close with a sound bath for them, and then in the evening, have breath work or astrology sessions. It is a spectrum from Career Coaching to professional development through the holistic areas of meditation, et cetera. Jason this was not necessarily the path you set out for yourself, but here you are. You had some incredibly highprofile jobs especially as it relates to startups and Venture Capital. Take us through your journey. Liz yeah, so about four years ago, i started at a Venture Capital firm called thrive. It is great, a leading firm in the u. S. We had invested in Companies Like spotify, instagram, and my job is to work with the founders and those who worked with the companies to help them scale from 10 start up to 500 Unicorn Companies within 23 years. So what i was doing was studying how companies were doing that and creating playbooks and content around that. Something i noticed was that when i was building these relationships with the ceos and the executive teams, people loved their jobs almost to the point where there was no separation of identity between what they did and who they were. All the ups and downs they experienced in their work played out in who they were and how they felt about themselves. Over the past few years at drive, i realized that while the work i was doing was valuable in terms of our company being successful, i wanted to do something that focused on a more personal level of humanity to help people who were, on paper very successful, also find that deep sense of calm in their lives. Jason take us to that moment where you made the decision, which obviously was a big one, to go out on your own. There is some significant risk there. Liz the first thing is that we would look at all these companies and there were more and more popping up in the holistic space. So i thought there was a macro and micro shift happening, where individuals want something deeper in their lives. I think it is we are moving away from boutiques where fitness is everywhere and is a huge industry, and i thought the same will happen for wellness and selfcare. Because we are just ascending the hierarchy of needs. So the part of me that believes in the future of this, i thought this was a fundamentally sound business decision. It may not seem like it now to a lot of people, but you have to get an early when everyone thinks you are crazy because then your timing is perfect. Thats another lesson i learned from Venture Capital, as well. And the second part of me is the part that has been using all these practices for the past decade. In 2012, i lived in india. I studied yoga, meditation, and it created the foundation for my Spiritual Life that may be so made me so great at my job in highpressure environments and working with the smartest people ive ever met. I had the sense of who i was. My ego was separate from the work i did. It made me better at my job. Just in achieving success at thrive for almost four years there, and getting to a point where i thought, i set out to accomplish these great things, i did it, i built a team, so what is next for me . Its experiencing the same trajectory we go through all of the needs on maslow is hierarchy of needs, and then you hit achievement. After that, selfactualization. That is what i thought, if i dont do it now, when will i do it . And what are we here for if not to help others and change the world . Taylor we turn now to pursuits. And the newest member of haute couture. Jason here it is with ralph russo. They started out boyfriend girlfriend and now a fiance duo. They have quickly risen to the tiptop of the fashion world. They are one of the first british brands in 100 years to become part of this french regulatory body that determines what is haute couture. Things that are made to measure, you think about the chanels of the world, valentinos, theres they started in the 1960s or early 1900s. They have really gotten a beat on this market. In 10 years. They are both australian and operate out of london. The have a lot of wealthy gulf clientele. The saudi royal family, even the British Royal family. If you remember Meghan Markles dress that she wore for engagement photos with prince harry, there was a lot of controversy because it was sheer. They did that. She ended up going with someone venchy forle she the wedding, but the engagement photos really raised the profile of this brand. Since then, they have done priyana chopkra for her wedding. Thinking about prices, probably the cheapest thing is about 2000. Up to about 14,000. If you get something actually made by them, it can be over 100,000. Jason that high touch element seems to be one of the really important things here. They are sort of spending money to make money. Help us understand the business model. If you remember that dolly parton quote . I spent a lot of money to look this cheap. Well, it also costs a lot of money to look that expensive. They have been expanding their line. They have been doing bags, purses, and they have been expanding out and opening shops in monaco and doha. This kind of material they are using is topoftheline so they have actually been running at a loss for the last couple of years. You would think that with all of this wealthy clientele and customers, they would have some money, but it is very expensive to run that business, it is a very interesting window into how a brand like this actually makes money. Over the summer, they got an investment from someone who you might remember was involved with h2o Asset Management company. The fund that backs him had over 8 billion euros in redemptions because he has such a checkered past. For a brand like ralph russo, for him to come in and do this investment for them, it was a really interesting idea in terms of who you can turn to in this market for money. Jason Bloomberg Businessweek is available on newsstands now. Taylor an online and through our mobile app. Jason what is your mustread . Taylor dont kill me. Its all about that yield curve. I love how peter coy broke down what an inverted yield curve historically means in terms of predicting a recession, but maybe this time is different. Jason and the economic and political backdrop plays into it. Taylor what was your favorite . Jason i am obsessed with this movement around fake meat. These plantbased burgers, ive tried a lot of them. I was a little disappointed to find out they are not as healthy, maybe, as i had bought, as i had thought but you have , got to go get one. Taylor i will do that right after this. Jason you can find more stories on businessweek. Com over the weekend. Taylor and check out our businessweek podcast available on apple, podcasts and bloomberg. Com. Jason more Bloomberg Television starts right now. At comcast, we didnt build the nations largest gigspeed network just to make businesses run faster. We built it to help them go beyond. Because beyond risk. Welcome to the neighborhood, guys. There is reward. Beyond work and life. Who else could he be . There is the moment. Beyond technology. There is human ingenuity. Every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. Take your business beyond. Scarlet im scarlet fu. This is bloomberg etf iq, where we focus on the access, risks and rewards offered by Exchange Traded funds. Scarlet rising odds of recession. But etf flows show a clear disconnect between what we hear and what investors are doing. Who is right . Time for risk parity . Alex is bringing a strategy popularized by a billionaire to an etf near you. And peso pain. An argentina etf bleeds cash as investors run for cover for from political instability