Closing Bell: Live From the Sohn Conference 5/12/26

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**Scott Wapner** (1:01)
All right, guys. Thanks so much. Welcome to Closing Bell. I'm Scott Wapner live today from the 31st SONE Conference here in New York City. An annual event that raises money to fight pediatric cancer, and CNBC is so proud to be affiliated with this great cause. We do have an exciting hour ahead of us today. Some very special guests. Fame short seller Jim Chanos will join me momentarily right here. Greenlight's David Einhorn, Avenue Capital's Mark Lasry, and the great software investor Orlando Bravo of Thoma Bravo all along in just a bit with their best investing ideas right now. I'll show you the scorecard here was 60 to go in regulation because the market picture has changed a little bit at least. The Dow has gone green. Elsewhere, we are struggling a bit. As we do begin this final hour, that hotter than expected inflation read is a weight today, especially on the NASDAQ, which is down one and a quarter percent. You saw the Russell was weaker as well. S&P, NASDAQ have been at record high, so tech's pulling back a bit. And that's where we do begin this record run for stocks and the takes of some of the world's most notable investors. Let's bring one in. Jim Chanos is the Chanos and Company founder and president. It's good to have you back. Welcome.

**Jim Chanos** (2:12)
Good to be back, Scott.

**Scott Wapner** (2:13)
You told me this is your first was in 2000, your first zone conference. Why do you keep coming back?

**Jim Chanos** (2:19)
Well, it's an amazing, and I want to apologize for my voice being out a little bit.
It's an amazing conference for an amazing agency. I've been happy to be involved. I did their first London conference back about 15 years ago, and then did a number of conferences for them 25 or so years ago. So I've always been a part of this and it's always a great honor.

**Scott Wapner** (2:43)
You surprised me for a moment when you walked over here and said, it's a great environment for short sellers. I'm thinking to myself, what are you talking about?

**Adam Parker** (2:51)
I mean, the market is going straight up.

**Jim Chanos** (2:52)
Yeah.

**Scott Wapner** (2:53)
So how is it good?

**Jim Chanos** (2:54)
There's been a lot of dispersion. We talked about it in our panel. All three of the short sellers that were on my panel, I believe, are up in their short portfolio of the year, as is our model portfolio for clients.
There's been a lot of dispersion. I mean, if you are in AI or data centers or that semis, you're struggling. But an awful lot of stocks are flat to down this year, and particularly consumer stocks.

**Scott Wapner** (3:20)
That said, you are short some data center plays.

**Jim Chanos** (3:25)
We have to be.

**Scott Wapner** (3:26)
Why? I'll just say what they are now. It's Digital Realty and Equinix, names that you have been short for a while.

**Jim Chanos** (3:33)
Yeah.

**Scott Wapner** (3:34)
That's against a pretty strong tide, isn't it?

**Jim Chanos** (3:37)
Well, I mean, they're not great businesses.
What we bifurcate our view on AI data centers is looking at what the business is, and the actual landlords for these kinds of deals are really not very profitable. They're very low return on capital businesses, very capital intensive businesses, and they don't grow that fast. They're growing mid single digits. The legacy data center companies are a distinct difference from the data centers that are now being built for AI. Let's make that clear. But even in some of the more recent popular stocks, we're beginning to see business models that just don't make a lot of sense. Basically, equipment leasing businesses that are dressed up as AI high-tech plays. And that's where we would tell investors to be a little careful on how they look at, is this really an AI company or is this a real estate company?