20/01/2016 BBC Business Live

This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.

The world's business leaders are more pessimistic

about the global economy as the annual meeting

of the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos.

Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 20th January.

The slowdown in China, falling commodity prices

and political instability are all fuelling the fall in confidence.

We'll be live in Davos with the latest.

Also in the programme, shares in Netflix surge as the video

streaming firm signs up a record number of customers.

Asian markets had a torrid session and it's left

Asian markets had a torrid session and it's left European markets

looking like this at the open.

And in the growing online video market what will

Will you be watching video in 360 degrees?

Wistia is starting to do it, we'll ask the founder all about it.

A report looks at ways of dealing with plastic waste. Can you

completely eliminate plastic waste and recycle everything? Use the

hashtag, BBC Biz Live. We are starting in that little

Swiss Alpine town of Davos. As the annual meeting

of the biggest names in global Confidence in the global economy

is falling and it's getting worse. New figures from

PriceWaterhouseCoopers show that 27% of chief executives thought global

growth would improve over the next It's all being blamed the slowdown

in China and slump Taking a look at oil,

you can see Brent Crude prices have fallen more

than 70% over the past 18 months A raft of other commodities have

also been affected by the slump. Steel prices fell more

than 35% last year. In the UK earlier this week,

Tata steel announced a further 1,000 jobs would go as the

firm battles high Joining me now from Davos is Russian

business oligarch and billionaire, He's the main shareholder

and the Chief Executive of Thank you very much for being on the

programme. We've mentioned the key issues on the minds of those with

you in Davos this year. From your point of view, what is the most

poignant issue that needs to be tackled?

Well, I think that the world has a lot of changes and a lot of

opportunities and it is very important for us to understand

better how to combine both how to address the challenges, but in order

to regain growth in the global economy and the economies of

specific countries like Russia. Many do agree that the outlook this

year for the global economy is worse than we originally thought. The

start of the year in terms of markets is very bad. The outlook for

rush extra is very bleak indeed. Many are arguing your economy is

going to have a particularly tough time.

Just before I'd like to faem size Russia demonstrated strong

resilience to the head wind in the economy despite more than two times

depression of national currency, we have only 12% or 15% inflation rate.

We have got decline in GDP m Russia, but what is good about Russia is

that I hope that we are reaching new equilibrium and we could expect

growth in the Russian economy again based on the fundamentals of Russia,

it is a large country, a large population, with a lot of smart

people which is very, very important, I think that on the back

of this, we could expect growth. A big cushion, how big the growth will

be so far we have a lot of structural problems as well to

address and we should be providing remember forms in our country. The

Russian economic ministry is in agreement with the IMF saying there

won't be growth in Russia this year. The oil price continues to go down

and that really affects your economy and let's talk about the steel

price, you have been the Chief Executive since 1996. How are you

weathering the fall in the price of steel in Russia?

Definitely have a very serious situation. The global steel industry

has a ratio below 70% which leads to a significant price decline like you

have alluded and we see the same in Russia, but I see a lot of strength

in the Russian steel industry being cost effective and we invested a lot

to improve our quality and product mix. I do believe that the Russian

companies are comparative in the global scale, but decline in our

economy and we saw a decline in steel con tumption and it is a

problem, but I would say the majority of Russian steel companies

are a bit down. They are sustainable and we have high margins. I still

hope that we could sustain this turmoil, but the situation is tough.

Coming back to your previous question, as I said at the

beginning, I think that there should be some opportunities for us and as

long as we reach equilibrium. All right. We appreciate your time.

He is executive chairman of the World Steel Forum. It is very

interesting to get his thoughts on that story.

Don't forget to head to our website to get much more

Video streaming company Netflix says customer numbers are up more

The firm said it signed up a record 5.6 million customers in the three

months to December, bringing total member numbers to just

Mining giant, BHP Billiton, has cut its iron ore production

forecast for the year to June, reducing its earlier estimate

The company says it can't foresee a recovery in iron ore or coal

prices in the next few years, but is more hopeful of a bounce back

Let's look at the Business Live page. There will be a lot of very

interesting insightful interviews and analysis coming from Davos. It

talks about the fact that the European markets are falling. There

is another story about UK debt as well. An interesting map if you live

in the UK, do take a look at this. These are the key debt hotspots in

the UK. It is a real problem. A real worry.

People suffering from the problem of debt and that spiral of debt that

many people find themselves in when they are struggling to pay back what

they owe. Details are on the website.

It's been a terrible session for Asian markets.

Charlotte Glennie is in Singapore with the details.

Talk us through what happened. It has been another grim day for

markets here in Asia with stocks sliding in response to and the Asian

stocks slumped to new four year lows. Japan fell 3.7%. That was

meaning that it is particularically in bear market territory. Some of

the billingest losers including Sony, whose shares fell 8% and there

were big losses for the Soft Bank Group. The Hang Seng had a big loss,

3.8% at closing. South coronary's Cost scoop bee had a bad day. A

negative picture here in Asia. Tokyo stocks closed 3.7% after US

crude prices hit new 12-year lows amid continuing worries

about the state Those Chinese growth

figures yesterday not Despite still being within

the target, they mark The Nikkei extended its decline

beyond 20% from its June high, officially putting it

in bear territory. In the UK yesterday,

the Governor of the Bank of England warned of the uncertainty and urged

caution for the year ahead. He also refused to be drawn

on a date for a likely rise in interest rates with markets now

pushing back their predictions So what is Wall Street

watching today? Goldman Sachs reports earnings for

the last quarter of 2015. And while the bank would like to concentrate

on its bright future, it is its murky past that is a concern for

investors. So the strong performance of its business advising and

financing corporate take-overs is likely to be overshadowed by its

legal difficulties and costs. Just last week, Goldman Sachs announced

it would pay over $5 billion to settle claims that it misled

investors in mortgage backed securities. The settlement was

expected, but it is likely to have a significant impact on Goldman

Sachs's profits which are forecast to fall slightly. On Wednesday, the

latest inflation data for the US economy is released. Consumer prices

are expected to have risen slightly in December.

Mike Amey is managing director and portfolio manager at Pimco

So what's on your mind this morning, given the sea of red we've shown

you? The overnight news, yesterday, we had seen hopes of stabilisation

really across the European markets which got, you know, dampened

significantly overnight. So I think the issue for us as investors is

really whether this, you know, this is a bout of volatility or whether

this is the harbinger of something more serious? Our view is this is a

bout of volatility rather than a serious downturn in markets and you

know one that could bring the economy down as well. In the past

we've talked about emerging markets making up for slowdown ins developed

economies. It seems we are getting it from both sides. Developed

economies are struggling to do much and we heard the governor of the

Bank of England saying for people to be aware of uncertainty. Where is

the best place to put money? Where are people moving money to? In the

developed markets because what you are seeing is that, you know, this

has been a multiyear transition, that countries such as the UK and

the US are getting better. It is a bumpy ride, but generally things are

getting better. Wages are going up for example. In the emerging

markets, we're going in the other direction. Japan in a bear market,

that's 20% fall from the peak for shares. How significant is that? I

know the Japanese yen is so strong because it is a safe haven, that

doesn't help? I think that's a reflection of nervousness. Japan,

the yen tends to go up when peel are nervous and that's what we are

seeing. That's another example of how nervy people are at the moment.

Thank you. We shall see you later. Still on edge, everybody.

Still to come: You've heard of YouTube, you might have heard

of Vimeo, but have you heard of Wistia?

It's the third largest website for video sharing and gives

businesses an insight into who's watching and why.

We'll get the inside track from the founder of Wistia about how

2016 could be the year of virtual reality and 360 degree video.

You're with Business Live from BBC News.

Here in the UK, there's more reaction to those heavy job losses

A special taskforce is being set up to help those

particularly in South Wales affected by the closures.

It comes after more than 1,000 job losses

were announced by steel giant Tata, most of them at its plant in Port

This morning, Sheffield Forgemasters has also announced plans to cut

Hywel Griffiths is our Wales Correspondent.

He's at the Welsh National Assembly in Cardiff.

What does this task force hope to achieve?

Well, in the first place, they have to find them, help them find other

employment. That could mean retraining or possibly helping some

grants to stay within the steel industry in another part of it, but

while people want some job safeguarded, within Tata, they need

to look outside of the work, because 750 jobs in Port Talbot supported by

1200 jobs across South Wales. It is a problem for the whole region. Now,

they will also want to see action, not just here in Wales, but on a

global level because everyone knows what built up here is a perfect

storm, so cheap Chinese steel, the high energy costs in the UK, the

strength of the pound is making it uncompetitive in terms of exports.

They will want, noises made here in South Wales, that will be heard over

in Mumbai so that there is some kind in Mumbai so that there is some kind

of strength in the industry moving forward and some sort of security

for those who want to stay in the industry. Hywel, thank you.

South Wales so badly affected by the job closures and losses that were

announced today. The Financial Times has a picture of Davos but it has a

story about the Financial Conduct Authority, mentioning that George

Osborne is in Davos on right now but it is the chairman of the FCA who

will be grilled by MPs on the Treasury Select Committee today

about a review into the culture of Britain's banks that was quietly

dropped. Some comment in this article about the fact that

actually, the events going on at the FCA around the time of the general

election with regards to the pressure put on banks caused a shift

and they want to know why. Interesting to watch that later.

More interesting because Davos is normally dominated by talks of

bankers and now it is about regulators. We will have full

coverage on the BBC. You're watching Business Live.

Our top story: The world's business leaders

are more pessimistic about the global economy -

as the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum

kicks off in Davos. Full coverage on that is online from

our team of correspondence on the ground at the event.

Online video has changed lots of things.

Not least how we consume TV and movies.

But businesses are also using it to tap into new markets

By 2017, it's predicted nearly 70% of all internet consumption will be

The biggest video site is YouTube, followed by Vimeo, a favourite

amongst creative types, and then Wistia.

Wistia is geared towards companies because it provides marketing tools

and analysis using a so-called heatmap, so you know if the people

you're targeting are actually watching your videos.

It's also making inroads into the virtual reality and 360

degree technology, which is tipped to be the next big thing.

He joins us now. Welcome to the programme. While we are chatting,

Ben is going to get this going. No pressure, I'm going to get this to

work! Firstly, tell us how this started because your company has

been around for quite some time. We started almost ten years ago,

Brendan and I started it in his bedroom in a ten person House in

payment, Massachusetts. Straight out of university? It was the year out

of school and university. I want to clarify that to get a sense of your

age. And Americanism. You were very young! Thank you! You kick this off,

where did the idea come from? We that online video was changing. I

was paying close attention to YouTube and I have a background in

film and had tried to get my videos online for a long time. The game

changing thing about YouTube was that they were encoding for you so

you did not have to be technical to make online video work. When we saw

that, we knew it video and if there was any time for

-- are ever a time for couple of kids who did not know what they were

doing to jump into a market where everyone knew what they were doing,

this was the place to start. I'm playing with this 360 degrees video,

which allows you to watch a video and you can look wherever you want,

I can control it and show people around. I'm just looking around an

office. These are our offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Talk us

through the application is something like this. I imagine is state agents

would be a great use because you can -- estate agents would be a great

use because you can look around houses you want to buy better than

in two-dimensional photos. And we have an office dog! 306 D degree

video lets you see the space in a totally immersive way and it lets

the controller see what they want to see. -- 360. You can look around and

see Lenny and try to get a sense of what the desks are like, whatever

you think is important you can figure out your cell. It looks

pretty empty. You have got people working for you! We do. There you

go. This is from about a year ago. The office is pretty full now. Any

time there is a tonne of rich, visually complexes stuff, that is

when it works well. In terms of the business model, if someone wants to

use your services, we pay you a feed and you have got some 200,000

customers at the moment. -- we pay you a fee. They all pay, presumably

and that is how it works. It is a fairly straightforward business

model. Very straightforward, you can get started for free and use the

tools to figure out what you want to do, and per month, you get more

advanced stuff and it scales to a large audience. You will pay more

for a bigger audience but it is all month by month payment. You touched

on the 360 degrees video and you have the virtual reality headset

with you that lets you do other things as well. It strikes me that

it might be technology that in a couple of years, we will go back --

look back and it will look very old, the big headsets. How much money is

being invested in something which is still untried and untested? Is very

early days. This headset is a phone which is pretty amazing. It is $100.

A very small percentage of people have this but there's a huge amount

of money being invested. No one knows what the final application of

360 video will be that allows it to take off but the production has

changed dramatically which is amazing for me. We shot that video

last year with 40 GoPros, with a rig, and we had to stick it all

together manually. Now there's a camera that you can put on the

table, and it has two macro lenses with 180 degrees each so you can

record extremely quickly. We will see application starting to take off

in the next year. We are out of time which is a shame because there is so

much to talk about. Thank you for joining us. We have got a real sense

of where you are and the dog was lovely! Amongst all the things I

never thought I would expect Dooley use say on this programme, "Oh, you

have a dog is quiet, is one of them. -- you have a dog".

In a moment, we'll take a look through the Business Pages but first

here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.

The business Life pages where you can stay ahead of the breaking news

and keep up-to-date with the latest details, with insight and analysis

from the BBC's team of editors, right around the world. We want to

hear from you. Get involved on the BBC Business Live web page. On

Twitter, we are at BBC Business and we are on Facebook on BBC Business

News. On TV and online, whenever you need to know. We asked you earlier

about the cost of recycling past it. You will understand why in it

because it is in papers. Let's talk about some tweets. "I Think as we

keep investing in renewable energy research, we will be at a stage

where we can recycle everything". Another says," as researching energy

and new technological advances allows us to do much more, prevent

environmental disaster". One from Singapore says," there are

successful experiment using melted plastic bags on the road", a good

example of using things in other applications.

Put some meat on the bone, the secret end to plastic recycling. The

report is talking about the challenge that we face. This

particular reports suggest the amount of plastic in the oceans will

be the same as the amount of sea life, basically, by 2050, on current

projections so this is clearly a major problem. The challenge is

there is not one unifying entity which provides a focal point. Ellen

MacArthur, the famous sailor, with her foundation, has volunteered to

be the focal point. Hopefully what this can do is bring together the

interests of the parties and make some progress. The fact is there is

a statistic on this really surprised me, this research is being unveiled

in Davos and says after a single use, 95% of all plastic packaging

material, an industry worth $120 billion, is lost. We are soon be

throwing away $120 billion worth of investment. And that is the

Challenge Cup it is not just that we are throwing it away, it is a

detrimental use as well. It is not just that we are producing it and

not using it, we are producing it and it is killing marine life. This

that a foundation, a charity, this that a foundation, a charity, this

is the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is trying to push the World Economic

Forum in Davos. There are so many agendas. Why aren't you there? Two

reasons, first it is very expensive to get there. It is not cheap to get

there or get a ticket to be a part of it. Or display there. Beer,

pizza, coffee, hot chocolate is all expensive. And the Sammut is and

begets. The pound has been weaker of late so that is not why we are

there. To be honest, we are fortunate, we are a large

organisation so we are in the fortunate situation that we can

speak to the Steve executives and business leaders outside of these

forums. We have a one-to-one relationship. We touched on Davos at

the top in terms of the theme. If there was one thing you could pick

out, what world leaders should be talking about, what would it be? I

think the key challenge is the outlook for China, to be honest.

Genuinely, what we have got, the Western world does not know what the

Chinese are trying to do and some coordination would be great. --

generally, what we have got. Thank you for joining us.

There will be more business news throughout the day on the BBC Live

web page and on World Business Report.

Much milder weather at the weekend but until then, more of this kind of

thing. Glorious if you can wear plenty of layers in the sunshine, it

feels fantastic.