Sixt Lays Out Plans For Post-Pandemic Growth
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. U.S. markets are pushing the boundaries of records. We'll look at the moment -- in a moment, I'll speak to the former World Bank President Robert Zoellick to get his take on that. And Donald Trump says Israel and the UAE can now collaborate on tech. I'll be speaking to an Israeli tech chief executive on the benefits that Israel -- well, both sides can gain from collaboration and working in the future. All of that, all of it comes after I've briefed you on the day's events. Because this is CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an urgent meeting of his top leadership, following the U.S. announcing a peace deal between Israel and the UAE. While the deal requires Israel to suspend annexation of the West Bank, Palestinians have long urged Arab nations not to normalize ties with Israel, as long as the Israeli Palestinian conflict remains unresolved. President Trump is explicitly linking his opposition to funding the Postal Service to his criticism of mail-in voting. He says the Postal Service won't be able to get to handle the influx of ballots if it doesn't get an additional $25 billion in funding. And Mr. Trump opposes that funding, claiming Democrats want to sabotage the election. The Parliament chief is calling for sanctions against Belarus over its crackdown on protesters. Davis Sassoli says there should be consequences for using what he calls brutal force against demonstrators. Just 7,000 people have been arrested over rallies over Sunday's disputed presidential elections. The car rental giant Sixt has noted a 37 percent drop in first-half earnings of the year. And despite the drop, though, the company does say success. It does see some light at the end of the tunnel. The company is rolling out new initiatives and hoping they can get it back on its feet after the pandemic. The company's chief executive at Sixt joins me now from Munich. Erich, thank you, sir. And I'm not surprised that you've seen these down numbers would be remarkable if anything else, but how do you propose to get people renting cars again?</s>ERICH SIXT, CEO, SIXT: Well, first, Richard, thanks for having me here with you. Well, look, yes, we just published our number. And I can tell you, we expected much worse numbers and we achieved if you imagine what happened in this crisis. And I think we're doing much better than our competitors are doing. We're good for us. One competitor went to -- into chapter 11. Another major competitor has now see equity on the wrong side of the balance sheet, where our company is financially extremely solid and can vessel heavy storms. And I tell you, we were expecting a much larger drop. But what helps us is that we have many, many downtown locations and that we offer to our customers a wide variety of mobility products. We are not only renting cars; we do car sharing; we do car ride, and we have a new subscription model, which makes it very, very interesting to not purchase a car or diesel car, but just pay for the time you use it. I think we will revolutionize this industry.</s>QUEST: Right. So, revolutionizing the industry is fair and good if people want cars, and I guess certainly in -- and I appreciate what you said about the new modes, as well, if people don't want cars full stop, because either they're not going anywhere or the pandemic has still got a grip on them, are you prepared for many more quarters of hard going?</s>SIXT: Yes, we do. We have 1-1/2 billion euros which is about 1.8 billion U.S. dollars equity. By far, it's the strongest in the industry. We could survive several years with even the drastic drop in traffic, but I'll tell you one thing. In downtown offices, we are already coming in Europe and the United States, very close to pre-corona times. In Europe, on some airports, we are already at pre-corona times hotspots like Majorca, like Sardinia in Italy, like the French Quarter</s>QUEST: Now, the way forward,</s>SIXT: I think, Richard, that's -- I think you're pretty, really smart. You see, it really helps us. It's a business consolidates. So, only a few car rental companies dominating worldwide markets, and luckily enough, we are one of them. And we are financially so solid. And we have been very careful with big acquisitions, very careful with big acquisitions. But if there are smaller possibilities, we grab them like we did in midst of crisis we purchased 10 major United States airports with a market volume pre-Corona of $3.4 billion U.S. dollars out of chapter 11 carefully speaking reasonable price. So, yes, we are always ready to look for opportunities. But we are careful and we never did it in the history of our company, acquiring big, big companies. Such a major risk because different cultures, et cetera.</s>QUEST: All right. Erich, it is good to see you.</s>SIXT: But we're looking at interest and following obviously</s>QUEST: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Erich, it's good to see you. And apologies, of course, the satellite link -- or satellite link -- the link between myself and Munich, of course, there is a delay, which often does mean, it sounds like I'm interrupting unnecessarily. But Erich, thank you. I appreciate it, joining me from Sixt. Now, the markets, if you look at the numbers, you'll see what's happening. And the markets are fascinating, because they're giving a message of optimism, or at least they were. I mean, these are small losses, but we were at record gains. And even the NASDAQ was up by some half a percent or so. Bob Zoellick is with me, the former President of the World Bank, author of "America in the World." He joins me from McLean, Virginia. And we'll -- Bob, we'll talk about the book in just a second. I want to get your take on the deal, the peace agreement between Israel and the UAE, and where you see the opportunities are for two very powerful tech economic -- economies by coming together?</s>ROBERT ZOELLICK, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK (via Skype): Well, Richard, first, it's great to be with you. I haven't seen you for a while. Glad to see you're doing well. So, on Israel and the UAE, I think this is a step that just codifies what we've been seeing happening in the region, in general. So, with the anxiety of the Gulf Arab States towards Iran and the dangers of Iran, which is a shared concern that Israel has, and also the dangers that it posed that Iran's militia posed in Lebanon or in Syria or others. This is a relationship that was occurring under the surface. And clearly, it's a significant statement about where both countries see their future challenges, but also their opportunities.</s>QUEST: So, to your book, "America in the World," as somebody who's been around the seats of power for a year or two, let's begin -- and could you just -- can you support the reelection -- will you support the reelection of Donald Trump?</s>ZOELLICK: Well, Richard, from the very start in 2016, I expressed my strong opposition to President Trump partly based on policy but quite significantly based on what I saw were some serious character flaws. And I was quite worried that he would undermine fundamental institutions and even the Constitution. So, it gives me no joy to say that I've seen that happen. And I think over this year, we've seen one other dimension I was worried about, which is competence and performance, because the United States' performance in this pandemic has been tragic.</s>QUEST: Isn't there a difference between -- I mean, the President talks about -- and I'm not making a personal political point here when I say, the President made talks about Make America Great Again. But I traveled a fair bit around the world, and probably not as much as you, sir, but I travel for a bit, the rest of the world in most cases is laughing of what they see is happening in the United States.</s>ZOELLICK: Well, that's one of the sad aspects would you take if you cross the scope of U.S. history that U.S. has achieved a tremendous amount. Of course, it has to be a model at home, which it's not been today, but then also the role that it can play across the world. I think one fundamental difference, Richard, is President Trump is purely transactional. And it's just a very narrow view. Most successful American presidents and leaders have recognized that this is a longer-term process with your allies, with your partners, with the economic trading system. I mean, just take the fact that they negotiated a redo of the NAFTA agreement. And then, surely there afterwards, we're placing tariffs on Canada because Canada is a national security concern? So, underneath some of the tos and fros of diplomacy, it has to become some basis of trust and reliability. I worked as, you know, for President Bush 41 at the end of the Cold War. You know, his credibility, his reputation was critical in putting together coalitions, ending the Cold War peacefully. It's been part of the diplomacy I tried to exercise whether for the U.S. government or with the World Bank. And sad to say, we don't have that today. It gives me no pleasure to acknowledge it, but it's a reality.</s>QUEST: And we'll talk more, please, sir, now you've written your book. Come back and talk more, especially on any deal that there might be between any further deals with China. We'd love to have your on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS more often, sir. I appreciate your time with us tonight.</s>ZOELLICK: Thank you, Richard.</s>QUEST: Bob Zoellick joining me. Now, still ahead, these are scenes in many of the lakes and ponds in India. One man gave up his corporate career to be part of the solution. His story is next on CNN's "CALL TO EARTH."