Opening Bid Unfiltered

Ola Källenius is a Swedish business executive who has served as CEO of Mercedes-Benz since 2019, becoming the first non-German to lead the legendary luxury automaker. Kallenius joined Opening Bid Unfiltered with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to chat about the future of the auto industry, his decision to massively increase the AMG brand's presence, leaning into tech-heavy car interiors, and playing a role in a driverless-car future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A legend in the world of autosport, from an executive standpoint. That’s where we find Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. After rising through the financial and sporting ranks at Ferrari, he served as their Team Principal from 2008 to 2014, notably leading the Scuderia to a Constructors' Championship in 2008. Following a transformative stint as CEO of Lamborghini, where he oversaw the successful launch of the Urus SUV, he took the reins as CEO of Formula 1 in 2021. In his current role, Domenicali has been the chief architect of F1’s global expansion, successfully navigating the sport into a record-breaking 24-race calendar and spearheading the massive 2026 technical regulations reset. Domenicali drove up to the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast mic with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to chat about the surging sport that is Formula 1. The F1 brand has gotten a huge lift from the successful Netflix show ‘Drive to Survive and ever increasing amounts of Corporate America sponsorships. With seemingly all eyes on the sport – especially now with Cadillac added to the grid – Domenicali has his work cut out for him to keep the growth as hot as Lewis Hamilton's lap time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking his racing skillset to the local Ford dealer. NASCAR star Joey Logano recently made headlines for purchasing an ownership stake in Huntersville Ford in North Carolina. It’s Logano’s home dealership, and he has wasted no time getting the ins and outs of running a successful dealership. Logano has become a multi-time Cup Series champion and one of the sport’s most consistent playoff performers. He is known for his aggressive driving style, precise race strategy, and ability to deliver in high-pressure championship moments. In short, these are great skills that should serve him very well in the highly competitive auto dealership business! Logano joined the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to discuss life off the track, what else he would like to accomplish in the sport, and how driving at 200mph can also be helpful to leading with success Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going inside the world of AI. Songyee Yoon is a South Korean business leader, venture capitalist, and technology strategist known for her work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, gaming, and innovation. Early in her career, she worked at McKinsey & Company and SK Telecom, where she became the company’s youngest and first female executive at the age of 29. Yoon later joined the global gaming company NCSoft. Over 15 years, Yoon served as president and chief strategy officer, helping expand the company internationally while integrating artificial intelligence into game development. In recent years, she has focused on venture capital and emerging technologies through the firm she founded, Principal Venture Partners. Yoon is also a board member at computing giant HP Inc. Yoon joined the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to discuss the current moment in AI, the impact of AI on the future of jobs, and how she is investing in technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Protecting your identity in the era of AI. Brittany Kaiser is a well-known data rights activist and the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower who exposed how the firm used personal data from millions of Facebook users for political targeting during elections. Since then, she has written a memoir and become the subject of the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary The Great Hack. She is currently the CEO of AlphaTON Capital. Kaiser joined the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi to discuss data protection, her biggest concerns about the rise of generative AI, and Anthropic's battle with the Trump Administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Simmons, Tony Horton, and Billy Blanks – you may know them as the larger-than-life faces of the fitness industry from the past 40 years. You know them in large part because they all came into your home through televised fitness classes and around the clock infomercials. One person from the fitness world you probably haven't heard of is Mark Mastrov, although his impact is no less than those public-facing names. Mastrov is now a 68-year-old fitness industry pioneer who co-founded 24 Hour Fitness in 1983 and transformed it from a single gym into a global powerhouse with over 420 clubs and 4.5 million members before selling it in 2005 for $1.6 billion. Born in Oakland, California, Mastrov identified a critical market gap—gyms weren't open 24/7—and revolutionized the fitness industry by opening up accessibility. After selling 24 Hour Fitness in 2005, Mastrov went on to gain control of Crunch Fitness and founded UFC Gym with the likes of Dana White. He even became an owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. In January 2026, Mastrov teamed up with LongRange Capital to repurchase 24 Hour Fitness and continue its rejuvenation campaign post-2020 bankruptcy. Mastrov joined the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi to discuss the future of fitness and how to build a successful business time and again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The past 12 months have been anything but electric for some vehicle makers. Both Tesla and Ford have seen sales struggle. Meanwhile, the Trump administration let incentives for new EVs end last year – a further blow to the industry. Enter an upstart like Aptera Motors, which is attempting to scale up production of its first solar-powered vehicle (SEV). Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down with Aptera Motors Co-Founder and CEO Chris Anthony to discuss the state of the industry, the future of transportation, and how he got his start fixing pinball machines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Freshworks CEO, Dennis Woodside, breaks down the real impact of AI on software companies, jobs, and innovation. Woodside shares lessons on building and scaling companies, navigating disruption, and leading through major technology shifts. He also explains why he believes AI is a massive opportunity, not a threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chairperson of Snap Inc., Michael Lynton, and Bloomberg Senior Advisor, Josh Steiner, unpack the high-stakes mistakes that shaped their careers. Lynton reflects on the decision to greenlight The Interview, the fallout from the Sony Pictures hack that followed, and what leaders can learn from failure. Together, they explore why confronting mistakes, rather than hiding from them, can be the key to stronger leadership and long-term success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steven Wang is looking to redefine investing for the next generation, one copy trade at a time. Wang, an entrepreneur and the Founder of dub, the first regulated copy-trading platform, sat down with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi on Opening Bid Unfiltered to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, which began in elementary school, his decision to drop out of Harvard, and how he gained backing from several big names including former Meta top exec Sheryl Sandberg and Airbnb Founder Brian Chesky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investing in education by channeling those at the very top of their field. David Rogier founded Masterclass in 2015. It’s the well-known streaming education platform founded on the mission to democratize access to world-class learning. Masterclass’s online education videos have featured everyone from acclaimed chef Gordon Ramsay to Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. Raised by his grandparents—including a Holocaust survivor grandmother who became a pediatrician—Rogier learned early that education is "the one thing people can't take away from you." Masterclass has raised about $475 million in capital to date, with its last raise in 2021. Rogier hopped on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast mic with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to share what’s next for his online education company and why. He also shares personal stories from the early days of Masterclass's growth, which offer invaluable insights for those seeking to enter the world of entrepreneurship. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some on Wall Street are calling it the Trump Slump. The president’s signature tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court, dealing a fresh blow to the White House. Meanwhile, the US economy slowed markedly in the fourth quarter amid the government shutdown. The administration’s continued friendliness toward the crypto industry hasn’t been enough to spark renewed buying in bitcoin in 2026, as the crypto king faces a bear market. Skybridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci joined Opening Bid Unfiltered with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to share his thoughts on the Trump Slump, crypto's pullback, and how his son AJ became the winning bidder for Logan Paul’s Pokémon card! Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before starting his brand in 2013 with his twin brother, Alex Faherty built his business expertise in private equity at powerhouse Cerberus Capital Management. His brother developed top design skills at Ralph Lauren, pursuing his longtime passion for clothing. The brothers used their expertise to start their own business, Faherty. The family-owned brand is on a mission to create clothing that blends the relaxed comfort of beach wear with elevated urban style. Faherty now reportedly generates nine-figure annual sales and boasts 80 retail stores in addition to its online business. Alex hopped on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast mic with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to share what’s next for his company and why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi talks on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Phoebe Gates. Gates — the youngest child of Microsoft (MSFT) Co-Founder Bill Gates and Philanthropist Melinda Gates — is the Founder and Co-CEO of Phia. With Phia, Gates is trying to shake up the shopping experience in the age of AI. Phia’s AI-powered shopping assistant scours the web for deals on fashionable apparel and accessories. So far, Gates has raised more than $40 million from a series of high-profile investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Kris Jenner, and Hailey Bieber. Gates shares her vision for Phia, what she has learned as an early entrepreneur, and how she applies her parents' lessons to her everyday business life. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you aren’t paying attention to the companies behind a new wave of AI-driven drug development, you may end up missing out on essential investment opportunities. One company that has caught our attention is Chai Discovery, founded in 2024 by co-founder Joshua Meier. After graduating from Harvard, Meier began working as a researcher at OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) during the development of GPT-1 and GPT-2. He then worked at Meta's generative biology group, where he co-led the development of ESM1, the first transformer protein-language model. Chai Discovery is currently one of the buzziest startups in AI drug development. In December, the company completed a Series B funding round, raising an additional $130 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion, cementing its unicorn status. Backers include Silicon Valley heavyweights such as General Catalyst and OpenAI. The company also recently inked a deal with Eli Lilly (LLY), under which the drug giant will use Chai’s models. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down with Meier on Opening Bid Unfiltered to go inside the world of AI-driven medicine. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world of collectibles — from toys to unopened card boxes — remains red hot. And when you want to know anything about collectibles, there are only two places to head: one, the new collectibles hub on Yahoo Sports. And the second is serial entrepreneur Josh Luber. Luber co-founded StockX with Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. StockX revolutionized the trading of luxury goods by applying stock market principles — transparent bid/ask pricing and anonymous transactions — to sneakers and collectibles. Luber has since gone on to found toy collectibles outfit ghostwrite. Luber hopped on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast mic with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi to go deep inside the collectibles growth market. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From an entrepreneur to trying to reinvent a claim to fame to win in the era of artificial intelligence. This is where we find Ring's chief inventor, Jamie Siminoff. Siminoff founded Ring in 2013, which he later sold to tech giant Amazon in 2018 for $1.15 billion. Ring has since developed a host of connected security products from floodlights to new iterations of its iconic connected doorbell. Siminoff left Amazon in 2023, only to return in early 2025 to lead its suite of security products. He is said to be tasked with taking the connected security platform to new heights by leveraging AI while driving a more efficient business. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down with Siminoff on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast to discuss what he is working on at Amazon, what motivates him as an inventor, and leadership lessons learned from building a consumer product hung from most doors in the US. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reflecting on decades of work to make the world a better place. That is where Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi finds World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Dr. Klaus Schwab, who just published a new book dubbed Restoring Truth and Trust. In a new episode of the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast, Schwab reflects on the origins of WEF and its evolving role in a rapidly changing global landscape. He emphasizes that the Forum — which he founded in 1971 — was created to foster dialogue between business, government, and civil society, arguing that complex global challenges cannot be solved by any single sector acting alone. Schwab says this principle of multistakeholder cooperation remains central to the WEF’s mission today. Of course, Schwab’s reflective moment comes against the backdrop of his absence from the epicenter of the 2026 annual meeting he created in Davos, Switzerland, which brought together billionaires like Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, and world leaders like US President Trump. Schwab resigned from the WEF in April 2025 amid an investigation into its culture. Schwab was cleared of any wrongdoing before the end of 2025, but the Forum is now being led primarily by BlackRock (BLK) founder Larry Fink. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Artificial intelligence is having profound impacts on Corporate America. But it’s also beginning to impact how humans create content and interact with it. It’s hard to imagine this impact doesn’t intensify in the years to come as AI becomes more sophisticated. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi sits down on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Inception Point AI co-founder and CEO Jeanine Wright. Wright is no stranger to the ups and downs in the podcast industry. She was COO at Amazon (AMZN)-owned podcast platform Wondery, overseeing operations and driving numerous growth initiatives. Wright and Sozzi discuss how AI personalities are changing the podcast industry, and how they may have a bigger impact on news generation and content creation in the year ahead. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The business of sleep has gone well beyond hawking mattresses, pillows, and bedframes. And it’s with good reason that seemingly everyone is analyzing their sleep data on various hardware devices. Roughly one in three adults in the U.S. regularly gets insufficient sleep, driving demand for new tools that can monitor, analyze, and improve rest. Enter Eight Sleep, founded in 2014 by Matteo Franceshetti and his wife, Alexandra Zatarain. Eight Sleep has raised about $260 million since its inception, from the likes of Khosla Ventures to F1 notables Zak Brown and Charles Leclerc. The company sells bedding hardware and software – under the Pod name – that tracks sleep patterns and can heat and cool. The company’s valuation stands at nearly $1 billion. It has generated more than $500 million in Pod sales. Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi sits down on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Eight Sleep co-founder and CEO Matteo Franceschetti to go inside the future of more advanced sleep, and what’s next for one of its leaders in the space. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered brings you a high-octane take on the freshest analyst calls, wildest stock moves, and shrewdest commentary in the business world. Executive Editor Brian Sozzi puts Wall Street's finest through their paces in this essential conversation for every investor, before the stock market opens. Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Opening Bid Unfiltered at http://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/opening-bid/. Thoughts? Questions? Fan mail? Please email us at yfpodcasts@yahooinc.com. Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered is hosted by Brian Sozzi and produced by Langston Sessoms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices