Bring in show music, please.
This is SquawkPod, and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa. On today's episode, Big Tech in the courtroom: Meta reached an $18 billion settlement in its social media addiction trial, and a judge ruled in favor of Anthropic, saying the government had illegally punished the company by labeling it a supply chain risk.
It is possible that maybe they would have had a stronger case if they had not made these public comments about their views about Anthropic's politics.
I think the administration didn't like some of the comments Amodei made.
And shares of fintech Affirm are riding high after impressive quarterly and fiscal year results. CEO Max Levchin, also a co-founder of PayPal, says the consumer is strong, at least from where he's sitting.
There's still strong demands there. There's nothing profoundly wrong, let me start with that. I do think that sustained pressure on prices isn't great in the long term, and so can't ignore that either.
And then more tech: The Information Editor-in-Chief and CEO Jessica Lessin, and the next big thing in IPOs, Anthropic.
My colleagues at The Information are reporting prospectus right after Labor Day most likely. I think we're looking at October.
It is Friday, August 28th, and SquawkPod begins right now.
Stand Andrew by in three, two, one. Cue Andrew.
Good morning. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC on this Friday morning. We are live at the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square. I'm Andrew Ross Sorkin along with Joe Kernan. Becky is off today. But this is not just a summer Friday; it's an important summer Friday because of what we're going to probably be hearing from Kevin Warsh today, and we'll see how equities move on the back of that.
I won't ask you if you would raise in September because we're data-dependent and we don't know what the data between now and September will be. So, I'm going to give you an out. Would you raise in September?
I'm not sure. But I am sure about this, and I have been sure about this pretty much the whole time. So, I will win—
I'll say it loud and I'll say it proud: a San Francisco federal judge ruling for Anthropic in its fight against the Pentagon. The judge found the Defense Department violated the First Amendment by designating Anthropic a supply chain risk based on a desire to make a public example out of the company. The designation came back in March after Anthropic asked for government assurances that its technology wouldn't be used for domestic mass surveillance or for fully autonomous weapons. Case in Washington, D.C., on the exact—or I don't know if it's the exact same, but very similar—case is ongoing. And there's a view that there was a friendlier judge in California; there may be a less friendly judge in Washington. But nonetheless, as you know, I have argued throughout this that a lot of the arguments made—
Done, or does this go further? Okay, when you said San Francisco, I said, "Well, San Francisco, although it is out there where all these great things are happening..."
The question now is how does the government decide to play this? So they could try to appeal this decision, they could try to wait for the other decision to see—
And see, and then we'll see where it goes next.
But I've always made the argument, and I will make it till the cows come home, that at the time, given that the government continues—and the judge made this point—continues to interact with Anthropic, continues to use Claude, continues to do all of the things, and also was vociferous publicly about their either hate or upset by some of the comments and other things that Anthropic has made about either this administration or others, that it is possible that maybe they would have had a stronger case if they had not made these public comments about their views about Anthropic's politics. But that once you start criticizing people's politics and their public statements, it becomes a First Amendment story right there.
I think the administration didn't like some of the comments Amodei made, the TDS comments and just the perception that the Biden administration has all these plants and the former Biden administration has all these plants in Anthropic. So it looks like it was just—it looks like it was political. You're correct. You're right. I would just say that just because a San Francisco judge agrees with you doesn't mean you're going to be right, and we will see where this all ends.
And it's not a shocker that he does agree with you.
And by the way, if it gets to the Supreme Court and they lose, it won't be a shocker either. So—
Well, that's because there's only nine judges, and we're going to change all that.
Well, I wish you luck with that. I wish you luck with that.
I wish you luck with that. I just don't know. It's like '7-Minute Abs.' I mean, do we go 13 judges? How do we get enough liberals on there to make sure we win every case? I mean, is it 24?
Is there a number that they're looking for?
How many companies, by the way, do you think the government should invest in before we consider ourselves true socialists?
How did that—that is such a non sequitur. That is moot.
Let's go back in time and come up with something else, because we're talking about the Supreme Court. It has nothing to do with socialism. Anthropic is reported—you just needed a way to defend the left somehow.
You cannot defend stacking the Supreme Court. Just leave it at that. Say that's absurd, or defunding police, or getting rid of the presidency or the Senate. You don't have to come back and say we're invested.
You always accuse me of whataboutism. You just—
You know what? I'll give you that.
I'll give you that. I'm going to give you that.
I'm going to give you that.
What's the Oura Ring today? Give it to me.
I don't know where the Oura Ring is. We're going to get you an Oura.
What time did you go to bed last night?
I will get you some details. How did you get to bed early?
I did well last night except there was a storm. There was a big storm. Did you hear the thunder?
I did not hear the thunder.
It woke up my corgi, and he's such a great watchdog. He was mad at the thunder.
Anthropic is reportedly considering allowing existing shareholders to sell some of their stock when the company goes public. But the report in The Information also says that Anthropic stockholders could be subject to a lockup period longer than the typical 180 days following an IPO. The company is said to be planning to unveil its IPO prospectus after Labor Day with a public offering potentially being held in late September or early October.
Don't we have the founder and CEO and everything of The Information on today?
So we can get this right from—
We get to talk to Jess in just a little bit.
You bet. Okay. Is the world ready for Grand Theft Auto VI? Well, Netflix aired 27 minutes of gameplay last night. This is the biggest reveal yet from Take-Two. Shares of the stock moving higher this morning. CEO Strauss Zelnick told us earlier this month the game was on track to exceed expectations. It is due out November 19th. Though I should tell you my son was telling me that there may be a leak of the game. I don't know if you've seen—
No, it's not. When is it coming? It's coming, I believe, on the 19th of November. But GTA, there's some leak that people were talking about online, and it has been a big problem.
Well, that's the other—when I read it, when was the last one? Is that possible? Do you remember when the last one was? I thought I read—has it been 13 years? That's impossible, isn't it?
Are you listening? Has it been 13 years since?
Yeah. No, it's been a long time.
I don't know if it's been 13 years.
Is that what the numbers—you're doing better than I am.
That's why. It's hard for me to believe it's been 13 years because we've talked about it so much.
President Trump just posting on Truth Social has to do with beef, etc. "Ranchers and farmers have always been a number one priority for me. They work very hard, are smart, efficient, and immaculately clean. Capital C-L-E-A-N. But for years, I have heard that they have had a tremendous problem with the big processors, who many say are a nasty monopoly.
There are essentially four of them, a very non-competitive number, and they make life miserable for our wonderful farmers and ranchers. And I can't let that happen, can I? So, in order to break this powerful monopoly with much of its ownership based outside of the United States, I am authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow farmers and ranchers to be given the right to process their own food. This should move quickly. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump."
So there's four companies that do this.
Yep. We know some of them.
Sense that they push these guys around, which I think is true.
It would be better to have more competition, we always talk about, but four sounds like a lot—or at least four sounds more like more than two or three.
What are the benefits of allowing them to do this on their own, and what are the implications for safety, right?
All of the other things that come with it.
