Bloomberg Invest is an event I eagerly anticipate each year, and 2025's conference did not disappoint. It's a unique blend of insightful content and high-profile attendees that sets it apart from other financial events.

It has the perfect mix of content and capital. You see, most events have hour-long discussions about boring topics. Very little Q&A if any. But not Bloomberg Invest, which specializes in short-form, high-output discussions. I always walk out wanting more.

If you don’t already, I recommend watching Bloomberg instead of CNBC. It is my preferred news channel at the office. Bloomberg delivers fewer, more relevant ads with better charts. Signal over noise, if you will. That’s how I prefer to invest, so it aligns with my strategy.

Bloomberg events are held in a similar fashion. Most of the interviews are done in a 15-20 minute slot. It’s efficient and effective. It also helps that Bloomberg has a fantastic brand and mission critical software. Which means the best executives, who pay millions of dollars for Bloomberg terminal, will speak at a Bloomberg event.

Conferences are the best way to network with your peers. It is an opportunity to travel, meet like-minded folks and make friends. In fact, it is rare for attendees to go to conferences for just the presentations. Except for Bloomberg events. I have always found the 15-20 minute interview format to be enough to extract the best talking points. Sure, Q&A would be great but that's what Bloomberg's media team is for.

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Bloomberg Invest 2025

I recommend looking at the agenda for Bloomberg Invest to see all of the speakers and topics. Below I highlighted a few interviews that caught my attention.

DOGE is not the problem

Robert Rubin, you are wrong about DOGE.

For anyone unfamiliar with Rubin, he was the 70th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999. He was a key player involved in the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Both of which contributed to a federal budget surplus.

In his Bloomberg interview, he discussed that DOGE would be harmful for the U.S. government and its citizens. Rubin believes we need to do more cost-benefit analysis for these programs. I think he is way off the mark. Probably because he is not familiar with how great software can analyze decisions better than 1,000 employees. Then the executive team along with the President can make the final call.

DOGE is moving quickly because they have the ability to. In the last 30 years, technology has progressed rapidly, from creating the Internet to generating A.I. The only thing that has not caught on has been government technology systems.

​DOGE Is Doing Tremendous Damage, Rubin Says​

The Tariffs are a test of investor patience

Blackstone is a $116 billion company with $1 trillion in assets. When they make a decision, it moves markets. Jon Gray points out that Blackstone’s exposure to export tariffs is minimal, but they do have risks when it comes to credit & lending to counterparties.

Overall his message is that investors and owners need to be patient. I think this is the correct approach. President Trump is working on border security to reduce drug trafficking and illegal immigration crossings. The goal is to shift the burden to our neighbors instead of the U.S. carrying all of the weight.

At the moment, it looks like it is working. Mexico and Canada are renegotiating some terms with U.S. They are helping to secure our borders as well. Of course there will be some short term gains but these tariffs can be reversed once our border is secure.

​Blackstone's Gray Tells Investors to Let 'Tariff Diplomacy' Play Out​

Is IBM even in the A.I. Race?

I use a lot of A.I. tools, ranging from Gemini to Grok to Perplexity. Each app has its own use case and speciality. But one tool I’ve never used before is IBM’s Watson. In fact, I don’t even remember the last time Watson was mentioned in the news. In fact, IBM sold its Watson Health assets for $1 billion to Francisco Partners in 2022.

Now Gary Cohn was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs for ten years before becoming Vice Chairman of IBM. In this interview, he highlighted that 90% of CEOs talking about A.I., only 10% could tell you what they could use it for.

​IBM's Cohn on The Next Phase of AI​

Private equity in two parts

If you’re an investor, then you want to listen to other investors. Especially ones that are better than you, like the CEOs of KKR and Carlyle. Both of these firms have spoken at Bloomberg events quite often and I learn a tremendous amount from each.

So, what’s next for private equity? For starters, the industry is doing great and both of these PE giants are prepared for any macro environment. Bae and Schwartz go into great detail about their portfolios and the economic tailwinds they both have benefited from. Scaling capital is at the heart of both firms, but can be a bottleneck if you’re too big.

If you’re interested in investing, I recommend watching both videos to learn more about their unique strategies.

​KKR CEO Joe Bae on What's Driving PE Success​

​Carlyle CEO Schwartz on the Boom in Private Markets​

I recommend watching David Rubenstein’s interview on Bloomberg. He delivers great interviews for Bloomberg on a regular basis. Below is one with the CEO of Google.

​The David Rubenstein Show: Sundar Pichai​

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

The Good: Overall, the economy is doing well and investment firms are making money. Which means investors are making money. The private equity conversations were my north star for this sentiment.

The Bad: The future is here but not evenly distributed. Rubin on DOGE was what I was expecting from the incumbents. He’s out of touch and unfamiliar with the current environment. I think cutting government waste, fraud and abuse is a solid initiative and can be done better by newer Administrations.

The Ugly: Tariffs will be painful in the near-term. There will be a lot of volatility, for investors and business owners. The primary concern is the unpredictability of how these external tax environments will play out. It will be difficult to model.

Bloomberg Invest 2025 provided a valuable glimpse into the key issues shaping the future of finance. From AI's transformative potential to the complexities of global trade and the evolving landscape of private equity, the discussions were both insightful and thought-provoking. I left the conference with a renewed appreciation for Bloomberg's ability to convene industry leaders and foster meaningful dialogue.