[Richard Quest, Host, Quest Means Business:] Hello, I'm Richard Quest, a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS as we continue. The Chief Executive of Saudi Aramco will tell us the biggest IPO in history may be coming very soon. And U.S. politicians are lining up to call for regulations on e-cigarettes. I'll be joined by top executive from British-American tobacco. And before all of that on this network, it's CNN, the facts always come first. President Trump has abruptly fired his outspoken National Security adviser John Bolton. The two have clashed on a number of key foreign policy issues, including North Korea, Venezuela and Iran. Now, we're learning they had a bitter argument last night over Donald Trump's plans to invite Taliban leaders to Camp David. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank if he wins next week's general election. He says the annexation would apply to the Jordan Valley and the Northern Dead Sea. He says Donald Trump will announce the Middle East peace plan after the election. At least 31 people were killed during a stampede at a celebration of the Muslim festival Ashura. Ashura is the holiest day on the Shiite calendar. Hundreds of thousands of people got to Karbala, Iraq to market. More than a 100 people were injured during the stampede. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has dismissed claims his decision to suspend parliament is anti-democratic, calling it a load of nonsense. The comments come a day after lawmakers heavily rejected his latest bid to hold a snap election, now a controversial five-week suspension of parliament is under way. MPs are due to return to work on October the 14th. The CEO of L. Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret says he's embarrassed by his ties to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Les Wexner says he was taken advantage of and betrayed by Epstein who was his personal money manager for years. Wexner calls Epstein's behavior abhorrent. Epstein killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on new charges of sex trafficking. Will they or won't they? And if they do, when will it happen? Saudi Aramco and WeWork could be some of the biggest IPOs of the year, but there's huge confusion about the "ifs", the "whens" and the "hows" and the "wheres". Saudi first, the chief executive says it will be very soon. Which is going to be very soon. Well, how long is that? How long is a piece of string? We'll hear from him in a moment. Saudi Arabia is trying to lift oil prices, if more so, after today is full. WeWork is a lot more complicated. Because WeWork has we're hearing conflicting reports. Now, the "Financial Times" says that SoftBank, a major earlier investor is urging WeWork to shelve the IPO because valuations have fallen so much, and indeed, the latest thinking is it's at the absolute lower end of the range. However, "CNBC" is saying WeWork IPO is full speed ahead. Paul La Monica is in New York. Where do you stand between these two views?
[Paul La Monica, Cnn Business Reporter:] Yes, Richard, I don't think when you read the stories that they are as conflicting as they might sound at first. I think it is true that SoftBank is scared about how WeWork might do if it goes public because of all the criticism of the company's unconventional business model and the concerns about unicorns in general, the lower valuations. "CNBC" is just reporting that they're going full steam ahead, but it's probably going to be at a lower valuation, $15 billion to $20 billion. SoftBank may not want them to do it, but I think WeWork is intent on getting this thing done.
[Quest:] All right, so, they're going to get it done or they're intent on getting it done. But what's the risk? What's the fear? I mean, we've seen IPOs, a good example is Uber which IPO-ed and fell, but the CEO has made it clear time and again, look, we're in this for the long run and it doesn't really matter to the day-to-day running of the company if we are below our IPO price. So, what's the fear here for WeWork?
[La Monica:] I think the fear is that you have a company that is just ripe for criticism because of their business model. They're losing a lot of money, nearly 2 billion last year, almost 700 million more in the first six months of this year. There are questions as to whether or not WeWork is really a viable business model. They talk a lot about wanting to elevate the world's consciousness, but I think, you know, people that look at the numbers, you know, old-fashioned people like you and I, you know what? This is really nothing more than a glorified real estate company that isn't making money and isn't going to be paying you a hefty dividend yield like most REITs do. So, I think the question here is whether or not any of these companies that have recently gone public have a path to profitability. Remember, everyone is trying to compare what happens now with WeWork and what happens with Slack and Uber and Lyft and their post-IPO, you know, time, to Facebook a couple of years ago oh, Facebook stumbled there after the IPO and then they wound up rebounding. Facebook was profitable when it went public. None of these companies are.
[Quest:] And as I see it, none of them I mean, I shudder, every time I hear the phrase, path to profitability because I'm afraid, Paul, you're as old no, not as old as me, but you certainly remember the dot-com boom and bust of the '90s, and you certainly remember being tried to be told that the path to profitability was there.
[La Monica:] Yes, the path of profitability is there that always raises the alarm bells. The other one, this time is different. No, it isn't. Make some money and then we can talk about how your companies are going to be eventually the next big FANG stocks like a Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Those companies graduated to where they are because they are profitable. And again, I mean, Uber may eventually get there one day, same thing with Lyft and some of these others. But these companies had the benefit of staying private for a lot longer and they're still not profitable. And I think that's staggering.
[Quest:] Paul La Monica, thank you. Saudi Aramco's CEO says the company's IPO will happen very soon. It's a critical part of the country's massive plan to diversify the economy. The kingdom is targeting $2 trillion valuation for Aramco would absolutely blow away anything else. Getting it would require oil prices to rise significantly though. Saudi's leaders are hoping installing a new oil minister will make it happen. The kingdom has now had three oil ministers in three years. John Defterios spoke to Aramco's CEO who said the company is ready for its debut.
[Amin Nasser, Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Aramco:] That's a shareholder decision with the point of council is together with you know, the decision is with the shareholders. For Aramco side, as I said, we always say we are ready for whatever the decision is. So locally, which is going to be the primary listing is to list locally. But we're also ready also for listing outside in other
[Unidentified Male:] Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you. Other jurisdiction would be a Tokyo preference or is less litigation?
[Nasser:] It's a shareholder decision, not a
[Unidentified Female:] Mr. Nasser, how will the separation
[Unidentified Male:] Do you have a preference for that?
[Nasser:] We are ready as I said to list shareholder decide. We are within for different decisions.
[Quest:] Prepared and very soon, but what do they mean? We'll wait and see. Coming up, vaping is facing a backlash, e-cigarettes are being called a public health epidemic by some. The chief marketing officer at British American Tobacco is with me after the break.