Dara Khosrowshahi

And so Twitter tweets can be taken out of context, et cetera. So I'm not there to stir the pot. So maybe that's what comes out in terms of my Twitter persona. I'll take Obama-esque or Clint-esque.

And so Twitter tweets can be taken out of context, et cetera. So I'm not there to stir the pot. So maybe that's what comes out in terms of my Twitter persona. I'll take Obama-esque or Clint-esque.

Yeah, that's quite a compliment.

Yeah, that's quite a compliment.

Yes.

Yes.

It was definitely my favorite board to be on. It was a really interesting time at the New York Times because they were... really becoming a top technical company in terms of being a publisher.

It was definitely my favorite board to be on. It was a really interesting time at the New York Times because they were... really becoming a top technical company in terms of being a publisher.

Like it's at a pretty extraordinary learning organization and they wanted me as like the tech person and I was coming from Expedia and, you know, optimization, all that stuff and their capacity to learn like super traditional company capacity to learn was pretty awesome. One of the fascinating parts about the company and it's both,

Like it's at a pretty extraordinary learning organization and they wanted me as like the tech person and I was coming from Expedia and, you know, optimization, all that stuff and their capacity to learn like super traditional company capacity to learn was pretty awesome. One of the fascinating parts about the company and it's both,

a superpower or it could be a weakness is total separation of church and state in terms of content and business, right? So like when I asked, well, what's the cost of certain kinds of content and then how much traffic, you know, can we have the connection between cost of content and traffic? It was like, no, you cannot ask that question because the content is separate.

a superpower or it could be a weakness is total separation of church and state in terms of content and business, right? So like when I asked, well, what's the cost of certain kinds of content and then how much traffic, you know, can we have the connection between cost of content and traffic? It was like, no, you cannot ask that question because the content is separate.

So it's just a fascinating organization. And the bet that they made on subscriptions was amazing. It was not obvious because the advertising business was much bigger at the time, but it was an enterprise bet based on a core identity of the company, which is we believe in quality content. And I thought that was one of the most impressive bets because it was totally non-obvious at the time.

So it's just a fascinating organization. And the bet that they made on subscriptions was amazing. It was not obvious because the advertising business was much bigger at the time, but it was an enterprise bet based on a core identity of the company, which is we believe in quality content. And I thought that was one of the most impressive bets because it was totally non-obvious at the time.

Every single news organization, et cetera, was advertising, advertising. This is the BuzzFeed days, right? It was quick content, et cetera. But I think that the bet that they made in quality was very much a bet on their identity that wasn't backed up by data and certainly wasn't backed up by their financials. But the company went all in and they've really benefited.

Every single news organization, et cetera, was advertising, advertising. This is the BuzzFeed days, right? It was quick content, et cetera. But I think that the bet that they made in quality was very much a bet on their identity that wasn't backed up by data and certainly wasn't backed up by their financials. But the company went all in and they've really benefited.

Yeah. I think they're very sure of that core, the quality of the content that they're building. And that allows them to make those kinds of business bets because in the end, they know that the content is going to win. Absolutely. A little bit like Netflix, too. It's like quality content. focus on subscriptions. Now they are going to the advertising, right?

Yeah. I think they're very sure of that core, the quality of the content that they're building. And that allows them to make those kinds of business bets because in the end, they know that the content is going to win. Absolutely. A little bit like Netflix, too. It's like quality content. focus on subscriptions. Now they are going to the advertising, right?

So you can't have a forever strategy or be so dogmatic as to not to understand that markets change, strategies have to change at the time, but it was absolutely the right bet at the right time.

So you can't have a forever strategy or be so dogmatic as to not to understand that markets change, strategies have to change at the time, but it was absolutely the right bet at the right time.