Talking Squawk—the official "Squawk Box" blog—looks at some deluxe apartments in the sky, the Twitter IPO by the numbers and one state's proposal to raise revenues through weed. This is your weekly dose of tidbits, insights, and sarcasm on the WEEK THAT WAS and the WEEK TO COME from the notepad of the show's senior executive producer.
Oh, Twitter!
What's left to say about Twitter? We talked about it all week. We all watched it price. We talked to CEO Dick Costolo before and after. We watched live as the stock opened on the NYSE. We watched the tick-by-tick chart. We had every possible analyst, investor and person who's ever tweeted anything on the air this week. We covered it from every angle we could think of and blogged it minute-by-minute.
When you're in the content business and you run out of things to say, you need a new method to communicate your message. So how about we let the numbers speak for themselves.
First the numbers (thanks to CNET for some of these):
· $26 ... the number Twitter priced at
· $45.10 ... the number Twitter opened at on day one Thursday morning
· $44.90 ... the number twitter closed at on day one
· 73 percent ... the percentage it opened above its IPO price
· $50.09 ... the intraday high Twitter hit on the NYSE on day one
· $44 ... the intraday low hit on the NYSE on day one
· 231.7 million ... the number of monthly active users (MAUs)
· 175 million ... the number of mobile monthly active users (MMAUs)
· 76 percent ... percentage of MAUs who are from MMAUs (mostly mobile company)
· $422.2 million ... year-to-date revenue
· $133.9 million ... year-to-date net loss
· 89 percent ... the year-over-year percentage increase in red ink
· $32 billion ... Twitter's approximate valuation at the open
(That's larger than Deere & Co., Charles Schwab, Adobe, Norfolk Southern and 333 other companies in the .)
And what would a Twitter story be without a good tweet. Jack Dorsey (@jack), Twitter co-founder (and now CEO of Square—which itself is considering an IPO), wrote to his peeps at Twitter:
Reach for the sky
He's a rarely-seen-on-television real estate legend, but Henry Macklowe came on the Squawk set this past week to give us an update on his new project: 432 Park Ave.
When completed, this soaring tower (rendering above) will be a unique feature on the New York skyline and the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere. Macklowe Properties and CIM Group began excavating the site on Sept. 26, 2011. And while they were at it, they put in three cameras to monitor the progress.
Sternlicht, real estate mogul and investor
Our goal on "Squawk Box" is to introduce viewers each morning to really smart people. And we spend a large portion of our day trying to persuade really smart people to come on the show and talk to us. Barry Sternlicht is one of those really smart people. He joined us Thursday and said some really smart things. But instead of me trying to tell you what he meant, why not just watch the video clips from the interview below?
· Barry Sternlicht: My investor friends are worried
· Barry Sternlicht: QE is a heroin addiction
· Barry Sternlicht: Soothing the Saudis
Squawk Reserve—Part 1
We love that Federal Reserve bigwigs now come to Squawk set and play guest host for the morning. This is something that was just unheard of 10 years ago. This week St. Louis Fed President James Bullard spent two hours with us. It was like being live inside an FOMC meeting. We cut up all the best segments in case you missed it and posted the links below.
· Fed's Bullard: Substantial progress on jobs
· Fed's Bullard: The economy has to drive policy
· Fed's Bullard: The risk of a bond market bubble
· Fed's Bullard: Janet Yellen well prepared
Squawk Reserve—Part 2
Oh wait, the Fed heads didn't stop there. Our very own Squawk econo-nerd (that's what we call Steve Liesman) caught up with Boston Fed CEO Eric Rosengren the next day. He told us he wants to see more improvement in the job market and the economy before considering tapering the central bank's $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program.
European rate move
In all the craziness about Twitter, did anybody notice the surprise ECB rate cut Thursday morning? In case you missed it, our Michelle Caruso-Cabrera gives us the CliffsNotes version.
Insight and analysis you can only get here …
Becky Quick on Thursday: "We have breaking news. The European Central Bank has just cut interest rates in a surprise move that caught the markets off guard. The European stock exchanges are rallying and the euro is plunging."
Andrew Ross Sorkin: "This is big news."
Joe Kernen: "You bet, I am already on my European travel website. The dollar is gonna crush the euro!"
News tidbits you can (kind of) use
Google's Eric Schmidt is angry about reports that the NSA spied on the company's data center. Does anybody find this ironic coming from one of the biggest aggregators of personal data in the world!?
Google takes pictures of you, your house, your car, your cat and your Halloween decorations all while driving around your neighborhood with a camera saying, "Smile." Then they publish it as part of their maps product without your knowledge or permission. And they're mad at the NSA? How does it feel, Google!?
Earnings on tap
· Monday: News Corp.
· Tuesday: D.R. Horton, Dean Foods, MBIA
· Wednesday: Cisco Systems, Macy's, Re/Max, SeaWorld
· Thursday: Agilent, Kohl's, Nordstrom, Tyco International, Viacom, Wal-Mart
· Friday: Maximus
Must follow them @
It was Twttter IPO week! So if there is ever an excuse to promote ourselves on Twitter, this is it! Now, I would never waste space and time promoting myself @matthew_quayle or my show @SquawkCNBC. But assuming if you read this blog and you already follow @matthew_quayle and @SquawkCNBC (which is why I would never mention it), I'll stop talking about @matthew_quayle and @SquawkCNBC and talk about our awesome anchors @JoeSquawk @AndrewRSorkin and please note! @BeckyQuick. (I make a note here because she changed her handle this week dropping the CNBC part and just becoming @BeckyQuick.)
Then comes our whole behind-the-scenes team: Senior Producer @RobContino (our other senior producer, Anne Tironi, doesn't tweet so I can't mention her handle); Squawk producers @mgreco27 and @ColonelGlasses; Video Producer @dmeelarp, who saves us daily and makes the show look beautiful; and Digital Producer @Matt_SquawkCNBC, who edits this blog and puts it into English every week.
Our booking team is just incredible: @LoriannLaRocco, @WallStManeet, @yogitaylor1, @KateLWelsh, @kaecee16 and News Associate @MelodyHahm. (Team member Klaire Odumody we also can't mention because she won't tweet, either.)
Our morning editor, @peterschack, helps us avoid potholes daily!
And there's our stellar technical team, led by Squawk Director @PaulDeFabo and Technical Director @keith_falcone. (Our awesome "audio guy," John LeFante, would get a shout-out if only he would join Twitter, but we think he's scared so we can't mention him—or our stage manager, "Mac," who doesn't seem to have a last name, so no logical Twitter handle would make sense.)
Tax the joint
Remember all the debate about raising taxes on the rich? Colorado thinks it has a new solution to raising revenue: Don't worry about taxing the rich or the poor, just tax the weed.
Overheard on the set
Anchor #1: "I'm excited. This is a big day."
Anchor #2: "I'm hungry."
Word Jumble
Joe and Becky love to play the Word Jumble in the paper. It's been a tough week for Becky. She got one win to Joe's three. Joe's bonus word of the week is SOCPRE. Becky's word is YIRATGV. (Get the answers at the end.)
Mark your calendar (or set your DVR)
· Monday: Former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.
· Tuesday: Thomas Lee of JPMorgan and Tim Sloan, CFO at Wells Fargo
· Wednesday: (Stay tuned! Nobody's booked yet.)
· Thursday: Gary Kaminsky of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
· Friday: David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management; and Thomas Watjen, CEO at Unum Group
Economic calendar
· Monday: Veteran's Day ... markets open, banks closed
· Tuesday: NFIB Small Business Survey (7:30 a.m. ET)
· Wednesday: Import/Export Prices (8:30 a.m. ET)
· Thursday: Trade Gap, Jobless Claims, Productivity (all at 8:30 a.m. ET)
· Friday: Industrial Production (9:15 a.m. ET)
The Corny-Sappy Motivational Business-Based Inspirational Quote
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently."
—Warren Buffett
—By CNBC's Matthew Quayle. Follow him on Twitter @matthew_quayle.
*Joe's Jumble bonus word answer: SOCPRE=Corpse
*Becky's Jumble bonus word answer: YIRATGV=Gravity