Nick and Jack
Appearances
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, so be Jay Wednesday. April 23rd, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Jack, yesterday's breaking news, news was broken on our podcast. If you haven't listened to our exclusive interview yet with Duolingo CEO... You got it. It dropped yesterday on our feed.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
That's right. If 40% tariffs tank your 401k, you don't do the new addition, but you will buy seeds for your home garden. But Home Depot faces an interesting problem. Garden shoppers are ironically like flowers themselves. Because some garden shoppers at Home Depot are perennials. They come back every year. But most garden shoppers at Home Depot are annuals. They're one and done.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
They don't come back next year. That's right. You typically don't return for flowers because one of two things happens. First, you buy flowers at Home Depot, but you can't maintain them. They all die. The other outcome is that you're so successful as a plant daddy that you move on to a local plant specialist. Jack got his latest fig tree from some exporter over in like Holland, I believe.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
So here's the challenge for Home Depot. How do you keep customers confidently coming back to purchase more peonies? Well, the Wall Street Journal dove into Home Depot's sourcing, and the answer seems to be that they look for plants that won't die.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Their stores belong in nine different climate zones, and they supply specially bred plants that will survive your overwatering or the lack of sun that you're exposing them to. The idea is that you cannot possibly kill that wisteria. It's kind of like gardens for dummies. Like, you can't go wrong. Yeah, just give it sun and a whole lot of water.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Now, if they can turn your annual customer into a perennial customer, then that Home Depot investment in flower breeding is worth it. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Home Depot? Every business needs an anti-Amazon thorn. Now, Yetis, the real reason why Home Depot's garden center is its biggest division? It's not just your passion for copies. It's that Amazon can't do it.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Apparently horticulture is Amazon proof. It just doesn't happen through e-commerce. Buying flowers, plants, or seedlings, it's a purchase we prefer to make in person. Oh, and logistically, the 650-pound bags of mulch, that can't be shipped on Amazon. Have you seen that shipping price? You also want an experienced human who's local so you can come back to them.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
to give you advice on the overseeding and the overwatering. You're not trusting Reddit on anything like, you know, an orchid. Now, the best part for Home Depot, you come in for the pansies, you leave with the pressure washer, too. And that is why, like Home Depot, every business rose needs an anti-Amazon thorn. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Savice Wednesday?
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Two Columbia students created an app to help you secretly cheat, and now they're venture-backed. Because AI has blurred the line between cheating and advantage. For our second story, President Trump's threat to fire the Fed caused markets to tank. But now he says he won't. The Fed's independence, it lets it do the unpopular thing we actually need. And our third and final story.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Get this, yetis. Sam Allman is losing tens of millions of dollars just by processing your politeness. We treat ChatGPT like it was our sixth grade teacher. Even though it's a robot, your mama still taught you manners. So we say things like, ChatGPT, could you please tell me all the emperors of Rome?
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The Home Depot's biggest division, it's shockingly the garden section, which brings in $20 billion a year. Because every rose needs an anti-Amazon thorn. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. Ding, ding, ding. The most anticipated name of earnings season just dropped. That's right. We got Tesla earnings hot off the rack.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Tesla's car revenues fell by 20% compared to last year. Their worst drop ever. But big update that made the stock actually rise despite the bad result. Elon announced he's winding down his work at Doge starting next month. So less politics, more CEOing the company. And second, Chipotle is expanding for the first time to Mexico.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Now, we should point out Taco Bell failed in Mexico and Domino's failed in Italy. Yes, we should point that out, Jack. So Chipotle is hoping to break the curse of American brands failing in the country they're supposed to be from. Or as one Mexican politician put it years ago, American fast food bringing Mexican food to Mexico is like trying to sell ice in the Arctic.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And finally, an update on anyone snacking on Flamin' Hot Cheetos right now with a side of Skittles. The FDA is phasing out the use of dyes in snacks and candies by the end of next year. Now we should point out, this is purely cosmetic. The food is still going to taste the same. It'll still have the same nutrition ingredients too.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Okay, but you're going to handle those Skittles like you always did, Jack? I think I'm going to have to close my eyes if I'm eating brown Skittles. Yeah, it's a little different, Jack. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Sergey and Larry from California. 20 years ago on this day, April 23rd, 2005, the first YouTube video ever was uploaded. That's right.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The first YouTube video just turned 20 years old. And Jack, what was in that original tape? The video was called Me at the Zoo. It's simply 19 seconds of a guy named AtJod chilling at the San Diego Zoo in front of some elephants. That's right. In the 20 years we've had digital videos online, they've evolved zero.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Well, that 19-second video of a guy standing in front of elephants has 355 million views today. And he probably... Has a podcast. Yetis, you look fantastic for Ceviche Wednesday. And if you haven't yet, drop down to please give us five stars. We would thank you for leaving a review. And we deeply appreciate all of your support of the show, sharing it with buddies.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
thanks or wow chat gpt thank you for listing all those emperors can you give me all of the gladiators of rome please now nick like 20 of those two sentences from you and me were just pleasantries but they require the same energy to process as the root question did what we are saying besties is that your politeness it is expensive and ai actually uses nearly two percent of global electricity
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
But all those pleasantries Nick just flooded us with, don't do them when you're talking to AI. Because that's going to cost AI. In the meantime, it costs you nothing to HYHTBIY. Have you had the best one yet? If you know. And before we go, a happy birthday to the legendary Eddie. Brian Katz in New York City, who has never missed a day of this episode. That's right.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
He's on a 2,000-episode streak, baby. Happy birthday to Margarita Romana in Moura, Portugal. Muito obrigado. And Emily Harrison in White Plains, New York. Happy birthday in Westchester. Happy birthday to Gwen Ryan in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. And Jake Dwyer down in Charlottesville, Virginia is set in records at the Face Off X and the best birthday yet, baby.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Happy birthday to Judy Slavins and best teen Tatooine. Yeah, she eats Chef Boyardee fresh out of the can. Double check that passport. but Eva Perez is turning 20 years old and celebrating in a lovely Madison, Wisconsin. Happy birthday to Alina from Milpitas, California, who's listening with her 10 and seven-year-old.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And Daniel Lahavi in Denver, Colorado is a hiking pro, five-year loyal bestie, and a legendary listener celebrating a fantastic birthday. Happy 10th birthday to Aria Vasquez from Irvine, California. This... is their fifth year of T-boy birthday shout-outs. Jack, I remember Aria's fifth birthday shout-out like it was yesterday. Happy birthday, Aria.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And congratulations to Nikita Rajput and Eric Burkhart, who are getting engaged in Europe. Congratulations. Send us some ring picks, guys. And Diane and Robert Binns have got their third anniversary, which is their best anniversary yet, in Portland, Texas. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the win. This is Jack.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
I own stock of Disney and Amazon, and Nick and I both own stock of Chipotle.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
So every extra word in our query has an impact on the grid. Your politeness is adding to your carbon footprint. Now, we asked ChatGPT, what if all 400 million of your users typed please just once per day? And what did ChatGPT tell us, Jack? It would result in $80,000 of extra processing costs. That means one please per user per day, they lose 30 million bucks a year.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
It's the most expensive etiquette ever. So besties, instead of chat GPT, could you please tell me all the emperors of Rome thanks? Simply say, all emperors of Rome. Those pleases, they ain't profitable. So mom, earmuffs if you're listening. But not saying please and thank you is actually the polite thing to do. Sam Allman made us do it.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
They announced chess. That's right. A language app is launching chess. But there's so much more in that interview. Did you hear when he said that Duolingo is addictive and he loves it that way? He argued why his addictive app is a good thing. I hope he was happy he said that. He also described that hilarious Super Bowl commercial where the owl's butt kept getting bigger. That was hysterical.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
For our first story, this one's wild. The most viral app right now is designed to help you cheat. Or as they put it, cheat on everything. Because using AI when you're not supposed to is cheating. For now. All right, let's start with some context, Jack. Yetis, a little storytelling for you.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Last week, the Columbia University student newspaper confirmed that two students had dropped out after facing suspensions. Those two students were Roy Lee and Neil Shanmugam. Not in trouble for protests or anything political, though. No, no, no, no, no, Jack. They were in trouble for cheating. More specifically...
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
They were in trouble for building an AI cheating tool and urging their classmates to use it. You see, besties, Roy and Neil created this cheating tool to help them ace their internship interviews. They were coding interviews with like all of tech. They had interviews with Amazon, Meta, TikTok, Capital One. They were looking for internships.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And Jack, how did it work when they did those interviews and they used their cheating tool? Oh, it worked. Those two students got offers from all those tech companies we just mentioned. And then they shared their wild stories of getting those job offers on X and LinkedIn, and that kind of went viral. And that's when they got an email from the student disciplinary board about that cheating app.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Barely Columbia University. Nah.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
a fan of cheating jack so after getting suspended both of these students pulled a zuckerberg yes they did quit school moved to silicon valley and raised venture money in fact get this their cheating app isn't just a fun campus hack anymore it's a for-profit company and they're making three million dollars a year in annualized revenue nick imagine being their parents they're like wait you're not at columbia anymore what do you mean you got suspended but you're a millionaire
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The most bizarre combination of confusion, disappointment, and excitement. Now, besties, as you can imagine, Jack and I got curious. And here's what we found fascinating about this story. The name of the app is Cluelay, but the description of the app is way more compelling. On the website, the app store, and all the articles we've read about it,
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
It says that this app is to help you cheat on anything. Yeah, it's the rare case where the brand cuts to the chase more than any brand we've ever seen, Jack. This AI assistant is not about productivity. It's about helping you cheat. We should explain how exactly does this thing work, Jack.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Well, basically, an invisible window opens up on your computer with an AI assistant who is watching and listening to everything that's happening and giving you the information you need at the right moment. It's basically an AI wingman. Like Gary from Veep. But less creepy. It's like if Socrates had a burner phone and could call you during the SATs.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
It gives you the information you need in real time to ace that job interview, ace the sales call, or ace your take-home exam. Now the key, their kind of AI competitive advantage, is the invisibility. It is undetectable to the job interviewer or the company or the school where you're cheating. And here's the business model. 20 bucks a month for unlimited usage of this powerful cheating tool.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Who knew cheating could become a subscription jack? In fact, they just published a marketing video that was pretty slick, and it went viral on Twitter this week. In the video, Lee uses Cluley, the app, to ace a first date. Like, to cheat on romance, basically. It's the CEO of the company, and he's at...
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
a restaurant on a date, and the AI is listening to his date's questions and then flashing to him the answers to her questions. Yeah, like, what kind of questions, Jack? What does he think? Well, he knows that she loves tulips because the app tells him that her Instagram is filled with pictures of tulips. Basically, he cheated.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
It's got quite a crazy butt. Oh, boy. So, besties, check out that episode. In the meantime, Jack and I have an infinite streak of the best podcasts yet. So, Jack, what are the three stories on today's Team Boy? For our first story, two Columbia University students got suspended for creating an app to help students cheat. So, they launched that app to the public, and they call it the Cheat On App.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
He can talk about a fake job that he doesn't actually have because the app keeps feeding him with information to make him sound smart. Yeah, he's acing the date, but he's also cheating the date. Add it all up, for 20 bucks a month, this AI app will help you cheat. On everything. And that made us think about everything. So Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies over in AI?
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
AI has blurred the line between cheating and advantage. Yetis, we know what you're thinking. Cheating is lying. So this is wrong. But if you think about it for a sec, doesn't all innovation actually start as cheating? When calculators were invented, they were considered cheating. So was spellcheck and so was Google. Like Googling for information. All once considered cheating. That's right.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The final determination of cheating is not the thing itself, but the rules around the thing. The rules change to make the cheating act a perfectly legitimate activity. We think it's probably going to be the same with AI. AI right now feels like cheating, but not necessarily in the future. In the future, it'll be like, yeah, of course you used AI to nail that interview.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And yet, artificial intelligence also blurs the line of cheating to an even further degree. Like, how about this one? Is chat GPT cheating when it turns your family photograph into a Pixar-style image? but without paying Disney for it. Kind of a gray area right now. So the Cluelay app to cheat on everything is this existential question in a nutshell.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Do you think using AI is cheating or is it just optimizing? And besties, if you have an ethically questionable case of using AI, we want to hear it. Drop it in the comments on Spotify or YouTube. Because AI has blurred the line between cheating and trying. For our second story, markets have had a wild week and it's not just the trade war. It's because Trump said he wants to fire the Fed.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The Fed is actually the fourth independent branch of our government, the way we see it. And we'll tell you why it needs to stay that way. Yetis, let's do a little calendar play-by-play here. On Friday and Monday, President Trump targeted the chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell. He went with some of his usual insults. He called Powell a major loser, but he also said that he's bad at his job.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Honestly, it's shocking Trump hasn't come up with like a nickname for Powell at this point. Ironic side note, Powell was actually appointed by President Trump back in 2018. And Jack, could you please share a legal side note as well? Most legal scholars agree the president cannot fire the chairman of the Fed. That would be unconstitutional.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Jack, why don't you throw in a financial side note while we're at it? Nick and I can tell you that Jerome Powell is one of the most respected financiers across the entire world. And besties, if you want proof of all the above side notes, you simply have to look at the market. Trump's threat to fire Jerome Powell sent the Nasdaq back into a bear market on Monday. And it's not just stocks.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The whole world sold America on Monday as well. U.S. stocks, U.S. bonds, and the U.S. dollar all got pummeled on Monday. Now, we should point out investors did a little BTD buying the dip on Tuesday. But still, Jack and I want to take this moment to clarify some very important things about the Federal Reserve. Because the Fed is unlike any other U.S. government agency.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Now I'm thinking about Jack. It reminds me of Batman. I'll get to that in a bit. But unlike the Treasury, unlike the Department of Justice, unlike the Department of Education, the Federal Reserve Bank is not in the executive branch. So it doesn't take orders from the president. who leads the executive branch.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And, unlike the House or the Senate, the leaders of the Federal Reserve are not elected officials. So the Fed is most similar in government to the Supreme Court. Yeah, it is. It's intentionally designed to be separate from politics. And it's because of this truth that every time a central bank has lost independence somewhere on Earth, it has led to financial disaster everywhere.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
in whatever country that is. Nick and I jumped into the economic history textbooks for you. Oh, let's hit them, Jack. What do we got? Zimbabwe, Argentina, and Turkey are just a few examples of leaders who forced their central bank to make politically driven moves. And Jack, what were the results in all of those countries, please? Each resulted in hyperinflation.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
everything app for our second story president trump wants to fire the fed for not cutting interest rates and this is universally considered a terrible idea so we'll tell you why the federal reserve is actually our fourth branch of government and our third and final story home depot has a little secret yeah actually a big secret it's huge a 20 billion dollar a year secret garden That's right.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Prices rose like 10 times faster than they've ever risen in the United States. Because investors know if a politician controls the central bank, like we saw the peso in Argentina pop, they like to give the economy a couple cookies, Jack. A short-term sugar high. Basically, it's like politicians get control of the candy jar if they can control their central bank. It feels good for a minute.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Like, cutting interest rates feels good for a minute, but it's really harmful long-term if it makes inflation even worse. The capitalist cavities are not fun. And that's kind of what Trump wants, it seems. Well, breaking news, as Jack and I are literally recording this story right now. You see this, Jack? Trump just said, and I quote, he has no intention of firing Jerome Powell.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Okay, so that is a huge switch from what was being said on Monday, and that's a great thing. And it's also good news. It's a great thing, Jack. Because of our takeaway. Perfect timing. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over there in the Fed? Sometimes the popular thing is the worst thing. Now, yetis, we covered the Fed last year.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
And in that story, we said it was the only part of our government willing to do the unpopular thing. Our presidents, our senators, our mayors, our governors, they all pledge to do popular things if they get elected. Tax cuts, stimulus checks, hey, loan forgiveness over there. It all sounds great, but the result is unbelievable amounts of debt. And another result, inflation.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Like eggflation, prices were popping. But the Fed is our one institution that doesn't care about popularity. They care about the long-term health of the economy. And the only reason why the Fed can do the unpopular thing, Jack, it's because they're independent of politics. Now, the popular thing to do during inflation is to cut interest rates.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
But that would make the problem of inflation even worse. Which is the reason we need an independent Fed. They're the only ones who can give us tough love. Or, Jack, the more I think about it, the more it is like Batman. Do you know the final lines in The Dark Knight? I think you're about to tell me. He can take it because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian. He's a watchful protector.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
The Fed is like Batman. So, besties, the Fed should remain independent because, like Batman and Gotham, sometimes they're the only one who can do the unpopular thing.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
For our third and final story, Home Depot has a secret garden. Literally. Home Depot's biggest division is, shockingly, its flowers. Because every rose needs an Amazon thorn. Now, Yeti, before we start this story, Jack, I feel like I should point out that this is a little bit of your own little secret side hustle, right?
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Home Depot's flowers and shrubs are shockingly its biggest business. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories to come back to. Love the mix, Jack. Feels weird saying this, but Jack, stop being polite. I'm sorry, Jack, but can you please be more specific? Stop saying please and thank you to ChatGPT. because those words are costing them millions. Thank you, Jack.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Like when I visited you a few weeks ago, I noticed you were growing carnations like a young Claude Monet in that little garden of yours. We have three big garden boxes and we're getting ready to plant a whole bunch of veggies. I better get some tomatoes.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
In the meantime, yet, is the way to Jack's heart is apparently a good rhododendron. But the Home Depot garden section is the back of the store that's like a Coachella for suburban moms and dads. There's a redonkulous number. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Home Depot's most important business isn't hammers and nails. Periwinkles are the real profit puppy.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Get this, garden is Home Depot's biggest division by sales. That's right. $20 billion a year in revenue. FYI, garden includes flowers, shrubs, hoses, outdoor furniture, and those adorable creepy little gnomes. Which makes Home Depot's garden section not just huge, twice as big as their paint section, three times bigger than kitchen, and four times bigger than the bath section.
The Best One Yet
🎩 “Cheat on Anything” — Cluely’s cheating app. Home Depot’s secret garden. The Fed’s Batman independence.
Jack, let's sprinkle on more context. Home Depot's garden section is even bigger than entire companies you know and love. H&M, BlackRock, Home Depot's garden section is bigger. That's right. They're selling more garden stuff at Home Depot than Hermes is selling of luxury goods. It is possible. So gardening is Home Depot's secret financial garden. Literally. And it's also resilient to recessions.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, ceviche Wednesday, February 19th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. All right, Jack, four-day work week. I think that means Wednesday is the newer Thursday. Thursday is the...
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
but they also made some cold moves like shutting down one-third of the factories that were making these fire trucks. The results? Profit margins at this company doubled from 5% to 10%. Although that was at the expense of the public that had to order them and wait four years for a new fire truck to arrive. But a big question you might be asking yourself... Aren't the number of fires down?
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Lonnie's science teacher back in the 60s even told him he couldn't become an inventor. Simply because of his skin color. So in 1968, at the age of 18 years old, Lonnie Johnson showed up to the University of Alabama all alone for a science fair. Oh. Lonnie wasn't treated too warmly when he arrived, but he ended up winning that very science fair.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yes, they're down 50% in the past 50 years in America. And yet this pure play fire truck stock is seeing all time high profits. We're going to square those two conflicting details in the takeaway. So Jag, what's the takeaway for our buddies sliding down the pole over in the fire truck industry? Oligopolies are monopolies, but sneakier.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yetis, the impact on fire departments of this Wall Street-driven consolidation, well, we'll let the head of the International Association of Firefighters explain. Here's what he said. Absent competition, monopoly capitalism is a shakedown. Because of less competition, fire truck companies, they're less responsive, and they're still charging higher prices at the same time.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Just three big firms now control 80% of the market for fire trucks. So it's not a monopoly, but it is an oligopoly. That's the funny thing we wanted to highlight though, because if just one company dominated the firetruck industry, if it was like a firetruck monopoly, that'd be easier to regulate and crack down on.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
It'd be obvious, you know, breaking up that one firetruck behemoth would be the natural solution. Yeah, like the Microsoft of fire trucks, basically. But the private equity roll-up of fire truck companies happened over 20 years. So it was more like a frog in a pot of boiling water. The result, very little scrutiny, even though the effect of this oligopoly is very much like a monopoly.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Higher profits, but higher prices for consumers. So besties, when it comes to oligopolies, they're just like monopolies, but sneakier. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new, new Friday? Protector is Uber for bodyguards. Their launch stunt with an influencer got 10 million views. This is a modern take on the storytelling rule. Show, then tell. For our second story, it's Nike.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Nike. They're trying to get their groove back by launching Nike skims with Kim Kardashian. The real limit to collabs, it isn't quantity, it's quality. And our third and final story, firetruck prices are up and delays are too after PE consolidated the industry. Oligopolies, they're like monopolies, but they're just a little bit sneakier. But yetis, this pod's not over yet.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Here's what else you need to know today. First, last week's geopolitical headlines were the Trump administration scolding European allies on NATO, free speech, and trade. This week's geopolitical headlines are the opposite treatment for Russia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with his Russian counterpart to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine and rekindling economic ties with Russia.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Second, Hermes, the luxury handbag brand, just had its best quarter in history. So what did they do, Nick? Well, Jack, Hermes is giving every worker a $5,000 bonus. Hermes is the outlier of the luxury industry. I think I overpronounced the H just now, and they're defying the luxury law. Yeah, we did great with Swarovski crystals, Jack.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
So all 25,000 Hermes staffers from the corporate team to the sales clerks are getting 5,000 bucks. And finally, KFC is moving their headquarters from Kentucky to Texas. Yeah, the kernel is going down to Plano, Texas. It's part of the trend we highlighted last week of like the polls of business shifting from New York and California to the Southeast quadrant. But these guys were in Kentucky.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
And for years after that initial triumph, Lonnie was still told that the color of his skin was an issue. Even while he designed rockets for NASA, at NASA. Yeah, he was a rocket scientist, but ultimately he became more famous for his side hustle. Inventing the Super Soaker, the little water gun for little kids. And that Super Soaker has become the best selling water toy in history.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Right, right, right. Let me just say, it's a good thing they removed Kentucky from their official name. It just said KFC. I mean, Jack, there's like huge opportunities here too. Like, are we going to get a fried brisket with the biscuits? Could they do a little Texas barbecue? You thinking this? Yeah, I guess fried chicken and brisket could be pretty good combo. Now time for the best fact yet.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
This one whipped up by Jack and me, and it's based on our intro story. We mentioned earlier the super soaker. This water gun was created by a black scientist from Alabama back in 1982. But Lonnie, the inventor, he's a modern day Tommy Edison. Get this, he holds 140 different patents for inventions he came up with. Including some save the world style moonshot inventions that he patent protected.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Like a lithium battery that is 10 times more efficient than the standard one. So after getting rich from the super soaker, literally made hundreds of millions of dollars on it, he now runs an institute for innovation down in Atlanta with a staff of 30. Yetis, if you got the best fact yet, for Black History Month, we want to hear it. And we want to get it on the pod.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
So click the link in the episode description. You can leave us a voicemail or you can go to tboypod.com slash shoutouts and leave it there. Either way, we want to hear it. It's a very easy Google form. We'd love to get you on the pod. Besties, you look fantastic out there for the four-day week. Jack, I have got a request for you. You ready for this? Hit me.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Okay, is the pod son still into trucks and cars like ahead of his fourth birthday? Very much so, yes. For his fourth birthday, I might get him a share of this fire truck stock. I think it's worth it.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
What do you think? You know, the annual birthday gift of buying shares? I think a fire truck stock for a kid actually works out really well. Deposit it right into the 529 account. Let me just say, I hope this is a really high dollar price stock. Yetis, this is not investment advice. I am purely doing this because a little boy loves fire trucks. It's a good idea.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
If you haven't yet, drop down to give us a five-star rating because that helps grow the show. And Nick and I will be back with you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Mulvika all the way over in Mumbai, India, turning 22. Happy birthday to Earl Lee in Philadelphia. And Connor Malloy over in Connecticut, probably going to hit a hole in one for his birthday weekend.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Happy 33rd birthday to Marley Miranda in Charleston, South Carolina. And Daniel Prado over in Bellflower celebrating a birthday and an anniversary. Happy 30th birthday to David Chen in Ontario, Canada. And Tyrone Jenkins turning 42 as a hurricane over in Raleigh. Big shout out to Tom Berry, who just got a new job in PE over at Carlisle. Tom, if you see some fire trucks, snatch them up.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
and Andrew Mahler over in Wisconsin. We just wanted to say thank you for your incredible message. Jack, Andrew is who emailed us about him and his wife listening every day, commutes, gym, doing the dishes. They're amazing. Wow. TBOI and TBIY, have fun on your next budget date, guys. Big shout out to the publication Feedspot, which just named T-Boy a 20-minute top podcast.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
And Showbeak Don down the street in San Francisco launched Upli, a platform for job seekers. Congratulations on the job launch. And happy anniversary to Melissa and Goberto in Aurora, Illinois. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick on Stock of Nike, which I deposited into his son's account for his birthday. And it finally went off today, Jack. It's about time.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yeti's Black History, it's more than a month. It's an opportunity to celebrate some fantastic stories, and that's why we loved finding this one. We think Lonnie Johnson's defiant super soakers say it all. So the next time you're drenched, think of Lonnie. And if your older brother soaked you and made you cry, you can also blame Lonnie Johnson.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
new friday friday still real friday all those were more than halfway through the week which is fantastic wednesday it's the real friday jack three stories for today's show what do we got on the pod man for our first story protector just launched the uber for bodyguards and one video made it go viral you can now get your own secret service detail for your next bachelorette party
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
First, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
For our first story, this one's wild. Would you use an Uber for bodyguards? Because Protector just launched exactly that. Protector's bodyguard app just went viral because of the number one rule of storytelling. Oh, yetis. Over the last decade, we've covered a lot of the Uber for blank business models, haven't we, Jack? It's like Uber, but for dog walkers. Or for snow shoveling.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Or for dog poo shoveling. A hybrid of the two. I think that one's called Scooper, not Uber Jack. Well, Protector is the newest of that batch. Uber for bodyguards. Basically, you book a bodyguard for the night to chauffeur you around town. You have got your own personal bouncers. The app just launched, and they're only available in New York and LA to start, but this is a gig app for muscle.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Now, we've dove in T-boy style. This is your classic two-sided platform. They're employing former SWAT, SEAL, and Special Operations Forces on the one hand. They're all wearing suits, they all have biceps, and they're all carrying concealed weapons. And These aren't mall cops. These are real cops, but they don't smile ever.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
They let you choose the bodyguard and none of them are smiling in their pictures. Well, also like Uber, there's dynamic pricing here because it starts at 200 bucks an hour. You can get an armed bodyguard in a Cadillac Escalade.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
After you see the price of your bodyguard for the night, the only choice you have to make in the app is how many Escalades you want and what uniform the bodyguard should be wearing. Yeah, you're going to pay more of a premium depending on the mission. And now to clarify, it is their term mission. You decide what type of mission you want. And here's the two choices.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Are you a VIP who actually needs security? Like remember the healthcare CEO was shot and killed last year. So maybe you're an executive at a company and you actually want to beef up your own security. But the other mission is a little less serious. It's as a party gag. Would you use this app basically as a party accessory? To make your bachelorette night in West Hollywood even more epic.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Get in the car, guys. Steve is running security. But the fascinating thing about this story to Nick and me, it's not the 250-pound armed gig workers. No, it wasn't, Jack. It's the launch strategy. Exactly. Because Protector launched just 72 hours ago, and yet it has already hit number seven in the travel category of the entire app store. Protector didn't do any press releases.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
They didn't do a wait list or put out coupon codes or pay for a billboard or do any paid advertising. Yeah, basically their launch strategy wasn't any of the traditional things you would do if you were launching a brand new app or a brand new brand. Instead, Protector found two pretty well-followed influencers and let them use their service for free for one trip.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Then they recorded a one-minute video that got 10 million views in just three days. Here's the video. Two women were flying from Los Angeles to New York for New York Fashion Week, and they used Protector to get picked up and brought to the airport. Now, the pickup was in a Cadillac Escalade, and there were two guards inside guiding them to the terminal.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
For our second story, Nike stock surged 5% yesterday on a collab with King Kardashian Skims. And get this, Nike Skims is Nike's first new brand since Air Jordan. And our third and final story is the fire truck industry. Because it's now basically controlled by one business. There is a fire truck stock. fire truck stock.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Basically, everyone at LAX, Jack, was thinking they were one of the Kardashians. And then when they landed in New York, two different guards picked them up, also packing heat, also driving an Escalade with sunglasses, and escorted them to the fashion show.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
So basically, the appeal for these two regular people who don't actually need security is that it signaled they were famous, even though they're not exactly that famous. You can invest 400 bucks for a protector, and then the world thinks you're worth 4 million bucks. Your personal secret service is basically an investment in personal branding.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Now, yes, this whole business reflects a troubling socioeconomic side. Do you really want to live in a world where you need private security just to go out with your bachelorette party? But we got a question for our listeners. Drop it in the comments. Would you pay for private bodyguards for a night? Yeah, this business model could go one of two ways. Would you pay for security...
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Or would you just pay to party? One sec, Jack. I'm just touching my earpiece here. Yeah, the eagle has landed. The eagle has landed. If Domingo tries to get into the limousine, let him in the limousine. 10-4. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Protector? It's a modern take on the age-old storytelling rule. Show, then tell.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yetis, if your new business is going to get any business, you need to get people's attention first. Protector's launch video was 100% about showing you what it was. That was key. They didn't describe the business to you. They showed in the video seven-foot guards, concealed weapons. everyone staring at you as you walk around the LAX terminal.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
So they did a great job showing you, but it's more important than ever in this age to tell, right? Like, is this a scam? Is this AI? In an age of disinformation and misinformation, you better have an FAQ section on that site. People are going to do their own research. Oh, and if there's an armed guard involved, yeah, you better tell the details.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
That's why we have a tweak on the age-old storytelling adage, show, then tell. That's how Protector launched a viral Uber for Bodyguards app in 72 hours with almost no budget. For our second story, Nike just announced its first new brand since Air Jordan, Nike Skims. It's Kim Kardashian's biggest business win yet. Honestly, making her the number one woman in athletic apparel.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yetis, one of the most recognized brands in the world, is now partnering with the buzziest brand in the world. Because Nike and Skims just announced Nike Skims. One word, no space. It looks more like a screen name than a brand. Yeah, can we jump on AOL for this one, guys? And because everything Kim touches turns into cash, Nike stock rose 5% on the news.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Nike grew $5 billion in market value thanks to this announcement with Skims. Nike signs a deal with a Kardashian and gains more market value than one Lyft jack. Let that sink in. Nick and I think Nike looks like an older presidential candidate here. Yeah, we do. They picked Skims as their vice president to bring some youth to the ticket.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yeah, like Skims, can you come up with me on the stage and get this photo out together? Now, the collab starts with women's apparel, but they plan to expand to menswear and footwear, and it launches this spring. But Jack, we've both read Phil Knight's book about Nike. Could you please sprinkle on some historical context to this deal? This is Nike's first new brand since Air Jordan.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
So Jack and I got to ask, if fires have fallen by half, why has this fire truck stock popped? But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories for the new Friday, Jack. It's February. And the best way we think to enjoy Black History Month, it's to discover, find, and share the business stories of Black History Month.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Sit down, stand up, and wick that sweat again. So Nike doesn't do brand collabs, but brand collabs are pretty much all Skims does to grow right now. Bessies, we've been covering Skims the last couple years. This six-year-old brand recently announced a collab with the North Face for skiwear. They also announced a collab with Swarovski for jewelry and Dolce & Gabbana for luxury.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
At this point, it's like, when is Skims going to come for Sesame Street, Jack? Agreed. Like, I'm really wondering what their next collab is going to be. Hey, Kim, let's get Elmo and some athleisure for a while. I think the key is that there's female customers because the Skims brand is stretching across the entire female economy. Through collabs.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
But Nike is their biggest collab deal yet, and it'll let Skims enter the huge athletic apparel market basically, we think, for free. We don't know the terms of the deal. No, we don't. They weren't disclosed. But we do know that Nike needs this much more than Skims does. Because before announcing the Skims collab, Nike stock was down 60% from its all-time highs.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
So our guess is that Skims bears none of the cost of this Nike-Skims collab. They just take a cut of the sales. That's our guess. Every collab is a transaction. Nike, it's getting to look younger. Skims, they're getting huge distributions. So for the inevitable Nike Skims dry fit, butt sculpting, sweat wicking bodysuit. Which by the way, is going to be the Mother's Day gift of 2025.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Nike's going to pay for the whole thing and Skims is just going to take 10% of sales. But this brings up a big question for every company that's ever done collabs, especially Skims. Are they stretching the brand too far? Where's the limit? So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies doing collabs? The risk of collaborations isn't quantity, it's quality.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yetis, or to quote Mean Girls, when it comes to collabs, we believe the limit doesn't exist. As long as the quality of the collab partners remains high. We think the limitation of collabs isn't how many you do, it's who you do them with. So far, Skims has focused their collabs on brands that represent the pinnacle of their industry. Swarovski Crystals, number one crystal company.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
North Face, the number one outdoor company. Each brand is number one in quality in its industry. That's what Skims has aimed for. Nike fits the bill of that number one criteria as well. They do. But Skims collabs would struggle if they start resorting to different types of quality, like second or third tier brands.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
No offense, but if Skims did a ski coat collab with a budget brand like Eddie Bauer, that could dilute the brand's premium an inch. Yeah, it would just be a different type of quality and that inconsistency, that would be the problem. So how far can Skims stretch their brand? When it comes to collabs, the limit isn't quantity, it's quality. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. A big flop.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
And our favorite story right now is the Super Soaker. That's right. The Super Soaker water gun is a billion dollar brand. Nick and I have been doing research on how the Super Soaker actually began. Yes, we did. And it's way deeper than a plastic toy thing for water fights. That's right, because inventor Lonnie Johnson grew up in the most segregated state in the country.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
For our third and final story, bet you didn't expect this one. The fire truck industry has become monopolized with longer waits and higher price tags. And it all reveals a strange contrast. Fewer fires, but more expensive fire trucks. Yeti's trust in institutions is down. But according to Ipsos, if you're with the FDNY, things are looking good, man.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Firefighters are ahead of nurses and teachers as the number one most trusted institution in America. There's a reason your mom keeps that firefighter calendar around. It's because she trusts the firefighters. Nick, hold on. Tell them the story about the time you visited and put on a firefighter uniform.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yeah, in business school, we did a trip to FDNY up in New York, and we went into a burning building. It was a leadership lesson, right? It was a leadership class, yeah. I already had respect for the firefighters, but what an incredible group of guys. How heavy was this suit you had to put on? 60 pounds, Jack. I had to get a spotter just to put on the outfit. Did you slide down a pole?
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
I think the pole slid down me. I got crushed, man. But yeah, as you may have noticed from the Los Angeles Wild Fighters, that there's a nationwide shortage of fire trucks. From Las Vegas to Atlanta, from Cape Cod to Tucson, there's delays. All these fire stations are waiting for their vehicles to arrive. The wait time for a hook and ladder, it's now four years for a new truck.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Now, the fire truck industry is very different than the car industry, we should point out. First, there's very few orders of new fire trucks that happen, relatively speaking, and each one is highly customized. Yeah, that fire truck is built to last 15 years and a whole bunch of fires. And California fire trucks have very different needs and requirements than a Minnesota fire truck.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Yeah, like the fire trucks in San Francisco, they have actual surfboards on them. Like, no joke. Yeah, and they have to get into like the ocean. In Minnesota, you need like an icebreaker and a snowplow on that fire truck. But it's not just the delays that are wreaking havoc on fire departments. It's the price of trucks, which have doubled in just the last few years. Get this, a new fire truck?
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
That was $1.3 million about four years ago. Now, it's $2.3 million, according to the New York Times. It turns out the fire truck shortage we see today, though, is thanks to moves made on Wall Street yesterday. This is what we found fascinating about this story. 20 years ago, Yetis, the firetruck industry, it was fragmented.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
Every region of America had their own little firetruck maker, like not that far away. Like a firetruck chassis company based in Ohio, only making firetrucks for Ohio. But in 2006, Wall Street noticed. And one private equity firm known as American Industrial Partners bought up a bunch of those regional fire truck manufacturers and rolled them up into one giant company.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
And Jack, what was the result of that private equity roll-up of the fire trucks? We have one giant company today that controls 30% of the market for new fire trucks. And get this, that company, Rev Group, was taken public in 2017. It's a $2 billion, pure play, publicly traded fire truck company.
The Best One Yet
🩳 “Nike + Skims” — Nike’s deal with Kim Kardashian. Protector’s bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
At this private equity firm, they also decided to buy up companies making street sweepers and ambulances and school buses. They found efficiencies with all of these huge municipal movers. And to boost profits, Rev probably made some smart moves to up the efficiency across all those assembly lines.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But looking forward, we notice Netflix has one new growth driver. Stamp their passport. stamp that business model passport in other countries. Specifically, they want to penetrate two untapped countries that have good broadband internet access and love streaming just like everyone else. India and Brazil.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Netflix, they're one half Silicon Valley, one half Hollywood studio, and they've got a playbook on expanding in new international markets. So their goal for the next five years is do what they've already done in the United States, Germany, France, and South Korea, but for India and Brazil. They want to stamp that passport. What's it going to look like, Jack?
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
They're going to have to film some local shows and local movies, then dub the rest of their programming into the local language, and then launch in that country at a price that's affordable to that market. Spoiler, we're calling it now. The next Squid Game is going to be a steak-eating competition at a churroscaria in Rio de Janeiro, where everyone's wearing... Brazilian thong bikinis.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Red paddle, you're dead. Green paddle, you live. That's how it works in Brazilian steakhouse. I think that is exactly how it works. Well, foot jack. So besties, that is how Netflix plants double revenue and triple profits by the year 2030. Stamp their passport in two countries that represent nearly 2 billion people who've never logged in to Netflix. But Jack, I got to pause the pod for a sec.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
And it's really fun, frankly.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Back to that $1 trillion goal. That is very specific. That is very financial. And that is very un-Netflix. Ta-da! So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Netflix? With each new era, you need a new North Star. Now, yetis, few know this, but Jack and I are astrologists. And the North Star actually does change every 26,000 years based on the Earth's axis.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Like one passenger left a sewing machine in the backseat of an Uber last year. Jack, I can one-up you. One passenger left a plunger. Another left a urinal. A third left a chainsaw. Did you say urinal? Like a porcelain urinal? It wasn't plugged into anything. It wasn't being used. But yeah, it was a urinal physically. Nick, in three cases, passengers left behind live turtles in the car.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
So with each new era, there is literally a new North Star. and we think the same applies to companies. Now, when Netflix was founded, it was in the move fast and break things era of tech. So their goal back in, say, 2005, here's what Reed Hastings said. They had to win a ferocious head-to-head battle with blockbuster video.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
And Netflix launched original content, taking one foot out of tech and stepping one foot into showbiz. Their new goal in 2011 was to win the prestige awards, like the Emmys and the Oscars, to earn the respect of Hollywood. Well, now Netflix has put Blockbuster out of business, and they've already won 200 Emmys and 26 Oscars. They've accomplished both goals. They're in a new era.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
They're a Wall Street era. And the goal now is to join the magnificent seven club of elite stocks worth a trillion dollars. Because to keep employees and investors motivated, you can't have these vague, broad goals like striving for gross. What does that mean? Simply growth isn't enough. You must have a symbolically meaningful goalpost that suits the stage of life the company's in.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Savice Wednesday? Harvard is being punished by President Trump for refusing his demanded changes to the university. But what about Harvard's $50 billion endowment? Well, you don't spend the endowment. You spend only the returns of the endowment. For our second story, Coachella's financial headliner is payment plans.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
60% of attendees were on payment plans. Because our economy used to be low, low. Low interest, low inflation. But now, we're high, high. High interest, high inflation. And finally, Netflix, with its recession-proof swagger, is targeting a $1 trillion Dr. Evil stock market valuation. Because with each new era, you need a new North Star. But yetis, this pod's not over yet.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Here's what else you need to know today. First, trade war almanac day 15. How tariffs have been messing with our economy. Jack and I have been keeping track for you from the tariff trenches. China's latest escalation, they're done buying US-made Boeing airplanes. Bigger escalation from China, they're no longer selling us rare earth metals.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
That last one is huge, and we're probably going to cover it in tomorrow's pod. Spoiler And second, Zuck testified in his court case yesterday, and he admitted something surprising. Juicy stuff here. In 2018, Zuckerberg must have known that an antitrust lawsuit like this was coming, so he thought about preempting the courts.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Yeah, he actually considered splitting off Instagram years ago to get ahead of all these monopoly court things. But he didn't, so he's on trial today. Oh, another juicy detail. Apparently Zuck had a crazy idea a few years ago to wipe everyone's friends clean and you had to start from scratch. So like your newsfeed wouldn't have anything in it. You'd have to like start over selecting your friends.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
We'd lose all of our picks from the dorm room, Jack. That would have been like Y2K. And finally, Trader Joe's $3 canvas tote bags are back in stock. Actually, I'm sorry, they're gone. They're out of stock. And they're gone. Yeah. We covered last year how Trader Joe's most popular product can't be eaten because their most popular product is a 12-inch tote bag.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Demand, though, was so high, they're already selling for $1,000 on the secondary market like eBay. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Michaela having a fantastic time down at Coachella. It turns out the hate against Ticketmaster goes back 32 years. That's right, it didn't begin with Taylor Swift.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Another passenger left their divorce papers. Another passenger left taxidermy. Our favorite, though, is a Viking-era drinking horn. I'm surprised the driver reported that one. I would have just snagged that and not told anybody. That's a keeper, Jack. But yetis, we got even more curious and we wanted to know what U.S. city is actually the most forgetful.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Pearl Jam hated Ticketmaster's control of the ticketing business, so they put together a concert at a venue that Ticketmaster did not control. Back in 1993, it was a polo field in the desert in the country. Coachella Valley. So Coachella's roots are rebellion against Ticketmaster spearheaded by Pearl Jam.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Back in 93 and to this day, neither Ticketmaster nor its parent Live Nation have any involvement with the Coachella Festival, the biggest music fest in America. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, you look great, but just don't forget that Viking horn cup. Have you seen it? I can't find it. Do you know where it went?
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
I can't believe the Uber driver reported that missing instead of just taking it.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Besties, mark your calendars for October 26th. It's apparently the most forgetful day of the year. But if you forget, we'll forgive you. But don't forget to drop down and give us five stars because five-star ratings and reviews, that helps us grow the show. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Won't forget. See you there, Jim.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Mary McCall celebrating a big one with her fam over in San Francisco. Happy 34th birthday to Daniel Baker in Asheville, South Carolina, celebrating with a spa day. That's the spa. And a happy wear your pajamas to the office day to all those who celebrate you look fantastic. Which, as you can see, is not Nick and me, unfortunately.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
And finally, we dare you to tag us where you're listening to T-Boy and tag us on Instagram. Tag us at T-Boy Pod. Jack and I will show you where we're listening to today's episode, and then you can show us where you're listening to today's episode. We'll give you a shout out on the show. And finally, to anyone else who celebrated something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
I own stock of Netflix and Disney, and Nick and I both own stock of Spotify. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
According to Uber's data, Chicago is the third most forgetful city. Jack, it makes sense. Your mind is distracted by the bears. The second most forgetful city is Miami. You're in a bathing suit all day, so you just don't have any pockets. And the first most forgetful city, according to Uber's data, is New York City. Even Aaron Judge left his torpedo bat in the back of an Uber.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But strangely, Uber also told us the most forgetful date of the year. And it's randomly October 26th. Apparently, for some reason, the data does not make clear. The most forgetful day in America is October 26th. If you have any idea why, let us know in the comments. But in the meantime, don't forget to mark your calendar about the most forgetful day on the calendar, October 26th.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Okay, I'm putting in my calendar. October 26th. Don't forget something that day. I already forgot.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
It's Wednesday, ceviche Wednesday, April 16th, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Okay, so Jack, what are stocks doing right now? What did stocks do yesterday? They fell a tad. We're in kind of like a calm period right now.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in a dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
that's it i don't even think they need to practice 50 that's a fat tip t-boy city on your at list if you know you know because we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show start the show first a quick word from our sponsor
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
For our first story, the biggest business story right now, and it actually isn't tariffs or the trade war. It's Harvard University. Harvard's $2.2 billion in lost federal funding puts a spotlight on their huge endowment. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to the economics of university endowments. Now, yetis, some of the top brands in our economy aren't Netflix, Coca-Cola, or Disney.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
What do we got on the T-Boy? For our first story, the biggest story of the week isn't tariffs or the trade war. It's $2 billion at Harvard University. Harvard is losing $2.2 billion of federal funding, so we looked into the economics of endowments. For our second story, it's Coachella. It's still the biggest music festival in America, and we're in the middle of it right now.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
It's America's elite universities. Well put, Jack. And right now, they're all in a political battle against President Trump. To rid America's universities of what he calls woke ideology, Trump is threatening to cut their federal funding. Over at Columbia, President Trump made nine demands of the university. Columbia mostly did what Trump said to preserve their $400 million in federal funding.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But Jack, on the other hand, a couple ivies up north, what was happening over at Harvard? Harvard faced a similar threat from President Trump, but they rejected his demands, saying this. The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. So on Monday, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion that Harvard had received in federal funding.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
And then on Tuesday, the Trump administration moved to try to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status. Is this legal, or is this a violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights? Courts will decide. The courts will decide. But in the meantime, on this show, Jack and I like to follow the money. And we were curious. Yeah. Where is all this federal funding going?
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Okay, everyone's talking about billions of dollars going to all these schools every year. We're like, what are these billions of dollars exactly? Brown gets $500 million from Uncle Sam. Northwestern gets $800 million. Cornell gets a billion. And yet their lacrosse team didn't win the Ivies this year. But Harvard...
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
currently has $9 billion in federal contracts and multi-year grants with the government. That's more than two lifts. So we looked into it. Some of that money is coming from the National Institute of Health for medical research on Alzheimer's, for research on infectious diseases, and for genetics research.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Okay, other parts of that money are coming from the Defense Department for research on robotics, on energy, on artificial intelligence. Now, we should point out federal funding of university research is historically a huge source of America's innovation. Yeah, Jack and I did a takeaway once about how, like, Uncle Sam is the original Andreessen Horowitz.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Right, because countless breakthrough technologies that have changed the world— occurred first on college campuses thanks to federal funding footing the bill. Professor Jack, could you whip out the whiteboard and please list some of these incredible technological advances? How about the internet? Ever heard of it? Big thing.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
GPS, lithium-ion batteries, even the nuclear bomb, all of them originally started with funding from the government for academic institutions. Now, on an annual basis, Harvard gets a little under $700 million in federal money. So we know what you must be thinking, besties.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Surely, with Harvard's $50 billion endowment, an endowment worth more than the company of Volkswagen, Harvard can afford this cut in funding. It's not just Harvard, and not just the Ivy Leagues either. Over 100 colleges and universities in America have endowments over a billion dollars.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Another way to think about the university system is that our biggest colleges are actually hedge funds that use education as their marketing arm.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Financially, you could look at it that way. Well, here's what universities do with those endowments. Spoiler, they don't spend them. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in education? You don't spend the endowment. You only spend the returns. Now, Yetis, many of you are probably thinking, yeah, Harvard, they got the smallest violin in the world right now. $50 billion is an endowment.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But the headliner this year isn't Sabrina Carpenter. The headliner of Coachella is the 60% of attendees who are on payment plans. We call it pay now, party later. Party later. And our third and final story. Some analysts on Wall Street think they've found the most recession-proof stock of all, Netflix. Netflix. So we need to talk about Netflix's new Dr. Evil goal. dollars.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Why would they need taxpayer money? But the point of an endowment isn't to spend it. It's only to spend the returns. The point of the endowment is to not spend the endowment. Seriously. That's the point. Let's say conservatively that Harvard's endowment makes 5% in returns a year because that endowment is invested in stocks and bonds, which grow every year.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Those 5% returns, that's the part that Harvard actually spends. But they do not spend the principal, the $50 billion endowment. And that 5% return on a $50 billion endowment, Jack, can you do the math for us, please, over there? We're talking $2.5 billion a year that goes to the university's budget thanks to the endowment. $2.5 billion in returns just from the endowment.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Jack and I crunched the numbers on it. Technically, that is more than enough to cover the tuition of all undergrads and grads at Harvard every year. Now, if you spent the $50 billion principal part, then every year the endowment would get smaller and smaller, and eventually it would become zero.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But instead, the universities use just the returns of the endowment to subsidize tuition, pay financial aid, pay the professors, do the operating costs. Turns out most students at Harvard pay way less than what it actually costs the university to educate them because the endowment pays the difference.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
So to update what we said before, a university is basically a hedge fund that subsidizes education. So when you think about Harvard's battle with President Trump and you think about the endowment, Here's the important clarifier. You don't spend the endowment, you only spend the returns. For our second story, we are right in the middle of Coachella, the nation's largest music festival.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But Coachella attendees aren't paying in cash or card, or buy now, pay later either. No, no, no, no, no. They're on payment plans. It's a third way to pay. And we'll break it down. But Jack, let's look at the history books here. 2018, you had Beyonce. Last year, you had Sabrina Carpenter. Okay, who we got on stage this year over at Coachella?
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Lady Gaga, LL Cool J, and randomly, the whole cast of White Lotus appears to be there. If Patrick Schwarzenegger hands you a lorazepam, watch out. You don't want to take that thing. Even Bernie Sanders is like the political headliner this year. Apparently Bernie is a Briggs Sabrina Carpenter espresso fan. Who knew? Coachella, the 32-year-old music fest just outside LA.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
And this year's Coachella, it's set a record. It's the hottest Coachella ever. Literally. Like literally.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
The temperature hit 102 at one point last weekend. The makeup was melting off your face over at Coachella. But from a business perspective, it's not the hottest Coachella. Because once again, tickets are not sold out. But with 200,000 attendees, it's still the largest music festival in America, according to Billboard. And here's what Jack and I found so fascinating.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
The headliner of Coachella this year isn't a musical act. It's actually a payment method. Because get this, 60% of Coachella tickets were purchased with payment plans. We should sprinkle on some context here, Jack. Payment plans are not buy now, pay later. But they are the secret way that music festivals are becoming attainable to Gen Z. Jack and I call this concept payback.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Pay now, party later, and we're seeing it even beyond Coachella. We'll explain how it works in a second, but Nick, it's not just Coachella. Lollapalooza, Electric Daisy Carnival, all the major music festivals are selling a majority of tickets using payment plans. And here is how it works. We'll break it down for you. You pay 41 bucks upfront to reserve your ticket at Coachella.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But that general emissions ticket this year is $600 for a three-day Coachella weekend. That's why every two weeks until Coachella, you're paying $100 to pay down your balance. Now, here's the key about the way this works. Coachella is taking zero risk with offering a payment plan. Because you must pay in full before they'll let you into the event.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
In fact, if you miss a payment, Coachella sells your ticket to someone else. So they're kind of double dipping with this payment plan. If you're halfway through your payments and then you can't pay anymore, Coachella keeps your money and makes money by selling your ticket to somebody else.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
You're just listening to us jacks doing the pinky thing. But yet is before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Whoa, what a mix of stories today. Love the mix, Jack. We're not astrology people, but we do believe there is a black hole on planet earth. And that black hole is in the back seat of an Uber taxi.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
But we should point out, if you don't end up paying for the rest of your ticket, you don't totally lose your money either. Because the amount you paid already is credited to a ticket next year. So add it all up, and unlike buy now, pay later, with the payment plan, you don't totally get the thing until you've paid in full for that thing.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
You reserve now, but you don't buy it until you've made the final payment. In other words, a payment plan for Coachella is pay now, party later. It's yet another form of alternative payment. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking for new ways to pay? Payment plans are back because our economy has gone from low-low to high-high.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Yetis, from the year 2000 to 2020, we lived in the low, low economy. As in low interest, low inflation. Prices were low and borrowing costs were low. You could take risks, buy stuff, launch a startup, all with basically free money. And that low, low combo was perfect for the credit card industry.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
You know, you could put your Coachella tickets on your Amex Platinum card because the tickets were cheaper and you paid very little interest. But since the pandemic, we've lived in a high, high economy. There's both high inflation and high interest rates. Coachella tickets have doubled in price from 2015. They're up 50% from 2020, and it's harder to pay back because of the high interest rates.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
That combo is bad when it comes to credit cards. There's more repercussions if you default. And that is why a majority music festival attendees are now saying yes to the payment plan. And why even more are using Buy Now, Pay Later to order a burrito through food delivery. But it's really all the same thing. Stretch consumers are finding creative financing to be able to afford things today.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Buy Now, Pay Later and payment plans. It's all because the economy has gone from low-low to high-high.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
For our third and final story, Netflix is already worth more than Disney, Peacock, HBO Max, and Fox combined. So Netflix's new goal, no big deal, hit a trillion dollar market cap. One trillion dollars. Now, besties, funny thing Jack and I have noticed. Every story in business these days opens with a recession warning. You didn't get your hair dyed?
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
Because the only time we tend to lose things is when we're unbuckling our seatbelt in the back seat of an Uber. This Is it just us or does your phone always manage to escape your pocket in the back of an Uber Prius? Well, here's the news. Uber just published their annual list of everything left behind in Ubers last year. Basically, Uber's lost and found index, so we jumped into the numbers.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
That means there's a 3% more chance likelihood of a recession. Recession warnings are everywhere, but Netflix just clicked skip intro. They've seen enough Black Mirror episodes to not be worried about trade war headlines. That's why last week, Jack and I told you why Netflix may be recession-proof. Because Netflix is in the category of frugal finance.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
20 bucks a month for a Netflix subscription is cheap entertainment in comparison to going out to dinner or going out to a concert. So Jack and I expected Netflix to be confident despite the recession warnings. And then we heard this. Netflix just set an internal goal to become a $1 trillion company. Okay, we repeat.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
According to Wall Street Journal reporting, the CEO of Netflix told staff the plan is to double revenue and triple profits by 2030. But he also told them this. We want the company to have a stock market value of a dollar symbol, the number one, and then 12 zeros. Translation, $1 trillion. It's why we call it the Dr. Evil goal.
The Best One Yet
📕 “Hedge Fund University” — Harvard’s $2B battle. Coachella’s Pay-Now-Party-Later. Netflix’s Dr. Evil plan.
So, Jack, what is the implication of Netflix's huge, ambitious new goal? They must believe they're still in their adolescence. Yeah. After 28 years, they think they're still a growth company. And we should point out, Netflix has three recent growth drivers which have been pumping up the stock. They've limited password sharing, they've raised prices, and they've started an advertising business.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
This is Nick. This is Jack. And today's entertainment pod is the best one yet. The top three entertainment stories you need to know today. Besties, this is episode two of our holiday bonus week. I guess you could say it's the sequel of our holiday bonus week, Jack. I like what you did there because this episode is the best of entertainment. All of it.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
It's like a mystical character, but then the steamy plot of like a Nicholas Sparks novel. Fifty Shades of Gandalf. Gone with the Dragon Wind. Romeo and Juliet. Yeah. And a Hobbit. So Jack and I just totally made up those titles, but- No, Messi's Jack and I, we totally made up those titles, but there is one particular leader in the romanticist genre, right, Jack?
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And this leader may or may not be in my house somewhere right now. It's called A Court of Thorns and Roses, or ACATOR for short, and it's the top-selling romanticist novel. In fact, of the top 10 best-selling books overall this year, half of them are romanticists. Half of them are romanticies, some by Sarah Moss and some by Rebecca Yaros. They make up five of the top ten, those two authors.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And get this, besties, romanticies sales have surged 85% in the last year to 11 million books sold. Or as Bloomberg recently reported, dragons and sex are now a $610 million business. Where are my dragons? Oh, they're reading a hot book, baby. Let me just say, don't ask Dumbledore. This is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Romantici just turned the page on something else.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And what is that something else? Jack, they turned the page on the entire book industry. The second quarter of this year was the first year in three years that total book sales rose from the year before. Book sales just rose for the first time in three years, and it's because of Romantasy. So we jumped in T-boy style to the book industry. Turns out it's highly concentrated.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Just five publishers control 80% of all book sales. Like Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin Books. Those publishers, they control almost the entire book industry, 80%. But one publishing house owns the Romantasy category. That's true. And that one publishing house has jumped on the romantic-y dragon and it is surging. It's called Bloomsbury, a British publisher that is publicly traded.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Their stock is up 50% this year because that Court of Thorns and Roses book may be on my bedside table. Those elves are hot and this company's stock is feeling even hotter. But we're not going to stop there, are we, Circe? So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in the publishing industry and the finance industry? The book industry is structured just like venture capital.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Yeti's wild stat, Jack and I discovered, according to a court filing, 90% of books sell fewer than 1,000 copies. In fact... Half of books sell fewer than 12 copies, which means that just 10% of books are profitable and 90% probably lose money. Those 10% hold up the entire industry. They must make the profits to keep the whole industry going. Now, here's the interesting thing, besties.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
That sounds surprising, but there's actually a precedent here, isn't there, Jack? That precedent is venture capital. It's the same concept in the venture capital industry. If you're a VC, you know that only 10% of the companies you invest in will succeed. The other 90% will fail. But when those 10% succeed, they carry the whole venture capital firm.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
A snogging shortage. And we did a whole story on that this year. Not enough kissing. We actually covered a wild range of pop business stories from La La Land over to Broadway. Rotten Tomatoes gave our coverage two thumbs up. We're very proud of it. For example, Deadpool and Wolverine had the best box office sales ever for an R-rated movie.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
In VC, you're hoping that you're investing in an Uber. In book publishing, you're hoping you're investing in a Moby Dick. And that is why Andreessen Horowitz looks a lot like Simon & Schuster. Because the publishing and venture capital industries share the same approach when it comes to risk and reward.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
But now, it's time for something even more entertaining. It is time for the best fact yet on entertainment. Trivia. Guess what industry is bigger than the film, television, and music industries combined? Hint. Jack, can we get a hint on this one? It's another sector within media. Ooh, I like this. And it's not Tamagotchi, is it? What is it, man? Video games.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Video games, bigger than film, TV, and music combined. With three billion active video gamers, it's the hidden giant of entertainment. Yeah, and it's not hidden in your parents' basement, Jack, is it? No, because the average video gamer is actually 32 years old, probably older than you think.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And each successive generation is playing more video games and consuming less traditional media than the last generation. So Hollywood gets the red carpet. Yeah. Gaming gets the green carpet. If you know what I mean. And you get an Oscar for that analogy, Jack. Yetis, you look fantastic for today's bonus pod.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Jack, I know we still got the makeup on from today's recording, but who do you think they should send this to for today? I think they should send it to their buddy who saw Gladiator 2 and thinks it had gratuitous violence. Because that's what I think about it. Or send it to your buddy who saw Wicked and wants to be popular. Oh, that's good. Euler, if you know, you know.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
You'll know everything about entertainment while you're schmoozing with the Auld Lang Syne this New Year's Eve. Besties, we got two more bonus pods coming up for you this week. So listen up on Thursday. It's another surprise. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate. And Nick and I will see you Thursday. Can't wait.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
While Wicked was so popular, it caused a shortage of the color green. True story. No surprise though, the whole summer was filled with sequels. Moana 3 Part 2, the prequel to the sequel. Dune III, before the Dune. We even studied romcomonomics because there were big profits in romcom movies. Hey, McConaughey, there's a new chin in town. Yes. His name's Glenn Powell.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Amazon launched its own Shark Tank TV show. And for that reason, I'm out. Mr. Beast got his own TV deal. Also with Amazon. And HBO cut up The Sopranos into 45 different TikTok videos. It's waste management. What the heck is wrong with you? Gabagoola. Sesame Street's Elmo had the most viral tweet of the year. And Shogun got the most Emmys ever, even though it was mostly in Japanese. Get this.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Disney is doubling their cruise business. Because you were angry that Disney World doubled their prices. And Bluey is now worth $2 billion. $2 billion for a seven-minute kid show. Those cattle dogs are making me thirsty. So Yeti's lights, camera, action. These are the three best entertainment stories of 2024. Quiet on set. Even if there was less kissing in them. We're rolling, people.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Our best stories of the year on media, music, and film. So yetis, send this episode to your buddy who lives in lovely Los Angeles. Better yet, send it to your buddy who's always quoting Maximus Decimus Meridius. Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? You will be entertained by our three stories. Jack, what are three stories for today's bonus pod?
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
We're rolling. Let's hit them, Jack.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
First, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Yetis, let's go back to May 17th, 2024. Because I'm checking my watch, Nick. Christmas is right now. So we got the perfect story. Let's get into Netflix's deal with Santa to buy the NFL. Sorry, rent the NFL. Huge week for the NFL. First, the NFL posted their schedule for the next season. And then they announced a Christmas Day game on Netflix. The Netflix and NFL deal shows the power of renting.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Jack, before we talk about a sports story, let's go full Mugatu here. Live sports. So hot right now. In just the past couple weeks, every big streamer has jumped into live sports like they just got tapped by Rudy. First, Disney Plus broadcast their first ever live sporting event. Caitlin Clark's debut WNBA game was broadcast on Disney Plus.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
That Amazon Prime reportedly is about to announce a big basketball deal. Prime might get a piece of the NBA's next TV deal. And finally, Netflix will broadcast its first ever NFL game this Christmas with a double header. Netflix splurged $150 million to get the two games that the NFL has this coming Christmas day.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
All right, Jack, since you were a quarterback in high school, I mean, in college, I mean, backup quarterback, I mean, you played football. Can you sprinkle on some context for us on $150 million for two NFL games? So yetis, I started one college football game in my career. It was D3. So I was a backup for the most part, but Nick was there and he was cheering me on and we won the game.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
I would never not cheer you on, but back to the numbers, baby. Jack, can you sprinkle on some context to $150 million for two NFL games? Netflix is paying $75 million per game, or $19 million per quarter, or $1.5 million per minute of gameplay. Jack delivered like a starting quarterback. Yetis for the first time ever, the biggest media company on earth. Netflix.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
For our first story, we're going back to May 17th, when Netflix just gave themselves the biggest Christmas gift of all, NFL football on Christmas Day. But Netflix isn't ready to buy football rights. Netflix is renting them. For our second story, we're going to July 22nd. Why did Taylor Swift drop 34 different versions of the same album?
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
just got the biggest live sport on earth. The NFL. Bill Belichick and Bridgerton are officially on the same team. So yeah, if the NFL announcement was like a touchdown for Netflix, they got a two-point conversion too. What my friend Jack here is saying is that 12 hours after the Netflix NFL deal got announced, the NFL also announced their schedule for all 32 teams.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And guess who is playing in the Netflix debut NFL game, Nick? Look at On Christmas Day, this December 25th, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs play on Netflix. Netflix just signed a deal to have the Kansas City Chiefs play on Christmas Day. This is a Christmas miracle, Jack. You're going to get Santa Claus. You're going to get Netflix.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
You're going to get Patrick Mahomes, and you're going to get Taylor Swift. Because yetis, Netflix won't just draw every NFL fan now. They're also going to draw Swifties to their first NFL game. Now, last year's Christmas Day game for the NFL also featured Taylor Swift and the Chiefs, and it drew 29 million viewers.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
But this year, with the added motivation to boo Harry Butker, we expect Netflix to break the streaming record of all time. Early prediction. This Chiefs game on Netflix on Christmas Day will be the most streamed live thing ever. Yeti, sit down, stand up, and grab a towel. We predict it again. This Chiefs game this Christmas on Netflix is going to be the most streamed thing that's ever happened.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Because you can't spell Netflix without NFL. I can't spell Netflix without NFL. We were so excited when we discovered that. Jack, I was writing out the ticker symbol for today's podcast. I was like, Netflix, NFL. Oh my God. The NFL is in Netflix. It was meant to be. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Netflix? With this NFL deal, Netflix shows the power of renting.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Yeti, CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC, each of those TV companies is the proud owner of the NFL. Because each of those legacy TV networks... pay over $2 billion a year to get one NFL game per week. It's like they're homeowners. You know, like NBC's got like a 10-year mortgage to buy 10 years of NFL rights. It's like NBC owns the NFL. But Netflix isn't paying $2 billion a year or even $1 billion a year.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Netflix is paying a reported $300 million for three years of Christmas Day football. So instead of buying 10 years of football, Netflix is renting just one day, Christmas, for the next three years. If Netflix's rental goes well, maybe it'll buy. Maybe it'll upgrade to buying a piece of the NFL like the other networks have. But for right now, Netflix is just renting.
The Best One Yet
BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And Netflix will get 30 million households enjoying that rental on Christmas Day. With this Netflix NFL deal, it shows the power of renting. Yetis, let's go back to July 22nd, 2024. Because you're not a true fan unless you've bought all three albums, both vinyls, plus Taylor's version. The music industry came up with a really interesting new strategy. Jack, let's jump into it.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and all the cool music artists today have a new growth hack to scale their songs. And the strategy is inspired by ice cream. This entire music story was inspired by a pint of ice cream. But Jack, before we kick off this story, can we hit the record books? What kind of numbers are we seeing out there in music land, baby? Taylor Swift just set another record.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And Jack, why did Sabrina Carpenter drop seven different versions of the same song? Because both were inspired by the ice cream industry. Music was inspired by ice cream. And our third and final story. We're going to July 15th when we covered the fastest growing genre in books. This is wild. Romantasy. Romantasy. Romantic fantasies are driving book sales with Pixie Dust. Steamy hot Pixie Dust.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Longest streak at the top of the Billboard album charts. ding, ding, ding. Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poet's Department is number one for 13 straight weeks. That's a whole bunch of fortnights, Jack. It's still number one, and no album has been number one in America, I think globally actually, for so long. Besties, after three months, two and a half million album equivalents have been sold.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Jack, can you sprinkle on more context to that number, please? That's a lot of albums sold. In fact, it is more albums sold than the next nine best-selling albums of this year. Combined. Combined. In fact, 2% of the entire music industry sales right now are Taylor Swift songs. Nick, it's like if Shohei Ohtani hit 500 home runs this year, more than the next nine guys combined. You know what I mean?
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
What we're saying is that the prophecy is GDP. But then Nick and I noticed a strange part of this story. This is where things get odd, Yetis, because Taylor Swift published one album, The Tortured Poets Department, but we see 34 different versions of that album. Because on drop day, fans could choose from four different versions of the same album.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
The only difference was one different bonus track at the end. And then Taylor Swift dropped 10 physical albums as records, CDs, or cassettes, each with a different voice memo delivered by Taylor herself. And then finally, the Anthology album had a whopping 31 tracks on this thing. I guess that one had more bonus tracks. Jack, I feel like we're living in the Matrix here.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
How can there be 31 different versions of the same thing? Neo, what's going on, man? I actually feel like we're living in the summer of 2020. All these variants. COVID got us used to different variants, while Taylor Swift just whipped up a whole bunch of different variants of the same underlying album.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
All right, Fauci, let's talk Sabrina Carpenter now, because she's dropping some variants of her own. Get this, bestie. Sabrina Carpenter, the singer of The Summer, released a song called Please, Please, Please. And how many versions of that are there, Jack? I'm checking Spotify right now. There's seven different versions of the track Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
We repeat seven different versions of the same single song. What is going on, man? One of them is called Sped Up. The other is Slow Down. Another is acapella, acoustic, instrumental, and then just the regular version. Apparently, Sabrina Carpenter came up with a sped up version of her song because it's ideal for TikTok videos. And her Slow Down version...
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Might also be perfect for your TikTok video you're trying to post right now. Yeah, you kind of want a version that just gets to the chorus sometimes. And other times, you'll wait a minute or two. But Nick, you're a big fan of the Beatles, right? I'm pretty sure the Beatles didn't drop Hey Jude version 8 as far as I remember, Jack. Ringo would have smashed his drum.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
if they multiplied their music like this. Jack, I don't think Yoko Ono would have been down with eight versions of the same song. See, Eddie, we have Taylor Swift dropping 34 different versions of the same album. Then we have Sabrina Carpenter dropping seven versions of the same song. Why are they doing this? Well, the answer, we discovered, is that this is a growth hack.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Taylor and Sabrina figured out how to keep their fans engaged longer, deeper, with the same core creations. Taylor dropped so many versions of the album to extend the sales period to keep the buzz up, and that kept her at number one. Sabrina dropped so many versions of the same song so that you'd have the perfect version as the soundtrack of your social video you're trying to post.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Yeah, this is basically choose your own adventure when it comes to the same songs from the same artists. It's also kind of cool to have a version that you feel like is unique in some way, not just mass-produced. Yes. It feels like it's your song and then you want to tell people about it. I mean, Jack, heartbreak is one thing. My ego is another. I beg you. I beg you.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Don't have too many versions of the same songs, Jack. I know you love Sabrina Carpenter. because the music videos are great. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the music industry? Music just borrowed a strategy from ice cream. Yeah, it is. Stick with us on this one.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
According to the Dairy Foods Association, the majority of ice cream flavors have either a vanilla base or a chocolate base. But there's variance. If you add Oreo to vanilla, you have cookies and cream. And if you add cookie to vanilla, it's suddenly cookie dough. Ice cream brands have introduced multiple variants of the flavor To drive sales. To give us variety.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Because you're more likely to buy a second scoop if there are different flavor options out there. And now music is doing the same thing. Creating multiple flavors from the same core creation. It's the same strategy. Honestly, kind of surprised it took music so long. Like, Ben and Jerry figured this out like 50 years ago, man.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
I knew you would make things weird. I was ready with that octave. But yet he's before we had that wonderful mix of stories. You're going to want to lick that book.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
And those variations have turned Spotify into like your own scoop shop of music options. Because different flavors of the same track are all we're seeing from the top artists. It's keeping the number ones at number one longer. The newest music growth hack was inspired by ice cream.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Because books are so hot right now, Barnes & Noble is adding stores, not closing them. And there's one particular type of book that's happening right now. So Jack, let's jump into the story. The fastest growing segment of the book industry is romantic fantasy. And this new genre explains the entire publishing industry right now. Yeah, it is. Bury your bee tree. Drop your James Joyce.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
I'm sorry. You never say lick on this podcast. Great mix of stories. The most fascinating entertainment trend of this year. It wasn't licking. It was kissing. It was kissing. Actually, it was a lack. of kissing. Because get this, Hollywood is in a kissing recession. It turns out on-screen kissing in movies has fallen 40% since the year 2000. We're talking about a smooch scarcity.
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BONUS 🍿 “The Entertainment Pod” — Our Best Entertainment stories from 2024
Jack, pause that Harry Potter, man. I just pushed pause because you knew I was listening. I knew you were listening to that thing. I was side listening. Because besties, the top trending book genre right now is romantasy. Romantasy. It's a hybrid genre, and it's caused a literary frenzy in bookstores. It's not romance. It's not fantasy. It's romantasy.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, April 17th, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. You know what, Yeti? It's the last pod before Good Friday. Markets are actually closed tomorrow. Yeah, it's a purely religious holiday on Wall Street.
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👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone joining the family business? The first great wealth transfer will be businesses. Prepare for Nepopreneurs. Now, yetis, we have told you about the silver tsunami before. Basically, the economic impact of retiring baby boomers. Boomers hold a tremendous amount of real estate, stocks, and other assets.
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👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Yetis, the cool new game to play at the office is actually the oldest game at the office. That's right. Tetris is seeing a resurgence, get this, as a wellness hack? Yeah, that Tetris. The ones with the bricks and the blocks all falling with gravity and you got to put them in the right place. And you got to fit the L shape on the square shape.
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👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And they're transferring that wealth to their heirs right now. But the overlooked part of that great wealth transfer is the business inheritance. And from a mom and a dad's perspective, they don't want the business they spent decades building to be shut down when they retire. They're looking for an heir. Best case succession scenario?
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👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Well, they hand over that business to little Johnny or tiny Tina. We call the recipient of these inherited businesses, nepopreneurs. The first thing zillennials will inherit from boomers before real estate stocks or other assets will be entire businesses. Yeah, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday?
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Twinkies has deployed a fleet of 420 munchie mobiles to market to marijuana users. They're turning 420 into their Super Bowl marketing day because America has become a PG-13 economy. For our second story, China has a monopoly on rare earth metals and they've stopped shipping them to the United States.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
America is using a trade war bazooka, but China is using an acupuncture needle right on our pressure point. And our third and final story. The hot new job trend is working for your parents in the family business. The first great wealth transfer will be businesses. Prepare for the age of the neopreneur. I think neopreneur is going to be like a dating show on Netflix. Hey, come on down.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And what kind of business do you own? But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Lyft finally expanded to Europe. I didn't even know they hadn't done it yet, Jack. They just acquired this app called FreeNow, which is a ride hail app in Europe for $200 million.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
FreeNow is actually jointly owned by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but now it's owned by Lyft, the ride hail company. Now for the record, Uber launched in the United Kingdom in 2012. So Lyft's European expansion is 13 years behind Are they doing food delivery? No, they're not doing food delivery. Still, Lyft turned profitable last year for the first time ever. Yes. Making progress.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Jack owns the stock, which is still worth one Lyft, by the way. And second, Doge admitted that actual savings from their government-cutting policies will top out at $150 billion. How's that compared to what Elon has said? Well, he said on the campaign trail he would cut at least $2 trillion in government spending. So 150 billion is 8% of that.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Now we should point out that we suggested back on November 14th that 87% of our federal budget was untouchable without legislation. Doge isn't done yet, but they finally learned the reality of how spending in DC works. And finally, OpenAI is reportedly working on a social network. That's right, the first ever pure play AI social media. Very early stage.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And then there's that zigzaggy shape that's kind of an S, kind of a lightning bolt. And then you got a backwards L shape coming in. Oh my God, Jack, it's coming quickly. Oh my God, oh my God. Get... This. During the pandemic, scientists studied people who played Tetris every day. And after five weeks of playing Tetris, traumatic feelings fell by 86%.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
It probably won't even happen if we're being honest. but Sam Albin wants a competitor to Elon's ex.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Or it could be a social network that pays you to post because your social media posts are the AI's training fuel. And then who's working for whom, Jack? Now time for the best fact. Yeah, this one sent in by Beatrice the Bunny. Jack, what is today's fact? Passover ends this weekend on Sunday. And Easter is this weekend on Sunday. And 420 is this weekend on Sunday. And a wild data point here.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Even though egg prices have been very, very high recently. That's not stopping us from decorating eggs. That's right. According to PASS, the 144-year-old egg-dying company, retailers have ordered the same number of egg-dying kits as they did last year. So eggflation hasn't touched Easter eggs. You can't afford the eggs, but you're going to buy them so you can paint them.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Now, I'm actually hosting an Easter-themed birthday party for Wilder on Saturday. Did you hear what I'm doing Friday night? Hit me. We're doing an Easter egg hunt in the woods. The eggs are full of dinosaurs. Oh, my God. On Friday night, I'm going to put on a headlamp. And go out in the woods and hide the eggs. Life finds a way. Oh, you're going full Dr. Grant.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
You're putting the dino eggs out in the wild over there. And I'm doing it at dark because the party's in the morning. Okay, just blink twice if you put the stegosaurus under the oak tree. Now you're speaking my language. Yetis, you look fantastic over there. Now remember, even though the stock market is closed tomorrow, Jack and I whipped up a very special episode for you.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
So check out our feed Friday morning. We think you're going to like what you listen to. We'll see you here as usual, and then tell a buddy this weekend, H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Have you had the best one yet? That is how we grow the show, celebrate the wins, and Jack and I will see you my next.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And before we go, a happy seventh birthday to Aurora Eck, the Yeti in Northwest Arkansas, who just rode her new bike all the way down the street. Happy birthday to Dave Pally, an old Robin Hoodie buddy of ours over in San Francisco. And Ed Palacios down in Miami, Florida, is listening with a 12-year-old daughter celebrating the best birthday yet.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Happy birthday to Krista Baer in Asheville, North Carolina. And Yeska Gamedez in Lubbock, Texas. Happy brilliant birthday. The orange cat named Mochi, who's also celebrating a birthday in San Leandro, California. And Zachary Zuzik with so many Zs, he's celebrating a 30 for his birthday in Annandale, Virginia.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Happy birthday to Dandelion Dan in Hudson, Wisconsin, who's picking dandelions for his birthday. And Shashank Murthy's celebrating the best birthday yet in California. Happy birthday to Allie C in Menlo Park, California. It's also Quigley's gotcha day. Something to celebrate. And Jack Milliken is celebrating 34 years doing logistics in Chicago.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Happy birthday to Tammy Wankoff in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, who's also a member of Vermont's 251 Club. Are you allowed to talk about Vermont's 251 Club, Jack? She's visited all 251 towns and cities in the state. And Funbi in Lagos, Nigeria is celebrating a birthday and has been listening with us as a Yeti since 2020, baby. Happy birthday to Juliana Paula Martinez-Ibarra in Plymouth, Minnesota.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
What we're saying is playing Tetris has similar effects on you as Xanax does. Yeah, you may not need a glass of pinot to relax. You just need 10 minutes of Tetris. The psychological soothing effect of playing Tetris is now known as the Tetris effect. And it's a whole lot cheaper than a round of therapy. But here's the wildest part. Tetris is one of the oldest video games of all time.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And Hakeem McFarlane in Bowie, Maryland tells everyone about T-Boy and is celebrating a fantastic birthday. Thank you, Hakeem. And a big shout out to Rachel Howard, who's getting a colonoscopy inspired by Nick. These two are scoping influencers. Honestly, Rich, I thought the stuff they make you drink tastes good. And finally, happy anniversary to John and Julie Rich in Washington, D.C.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Lyft and Netflix. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Because Tetris was invented back in the Soviet Union, 1984. It's the greatest Soviet export since Ivan Draga. The Tetris resurgence is part of the broader trend, Jack and I have noticed, of vintage tech. Yahoo.com email addresses are hot again. iPods are making a comeback. And now you're playing Tetris all day instead of swiping on TikTok. So, Yetis...
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
If you think you need to visit the spa this weekend for some R&R... Instead, try playing a little bit of Tetris. It's a massage for your mind. Oh, my God, Jack. Uh-oh, uh-oh. L-shape coming. L-shape. Oh, turn, turn, turn. Game over, Nick.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Church, straight, separated, except on Wall Street, apparently. But we do have a special full episode dropping tomorrow on our feed. Yeah. We wouldn't leave you empty-handed. Also, you know, Jack, we haven't done a T-Boy hotline in a while, and people got a lot of questions with the market these days.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
For our first story, Twinkies is the rare big corporation that's embracing the 4-20 weed holiday. Twinkies is celebrating the cannabis holiday because America is now a PG-13 economy. But yetis, let's start by sprinkling on some context like some powdered sugar. We have got some sad news for you, don't we, Jack?
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
We're in a snack session, a snacking recession, which is particularly hurtful for Nick and me because our original company was called Market Snacks. But as Americans, it appears we've moved on from the two-year sweatpants-wearing snack binging that controlled all of us during the pandemic. We've moved on to the Ozempic era. You're passing on popcorn and you're ditching Dunkaroos.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Case in point, let's look at JM Smuckers, the $12 billion peanut butter and jelly icon. They just reported that sales of their sweet snacks fell by 7% last quarter. Okay, so that's a problem. But here's the bigger problem for Smuckers. Two years ago, they acquired Hostess for $4.8 billion, which is the sugariest of the snack brands. It is the sugariest.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Jack, can you read us the Hostess starting lineup of food, please? Hostess brands includes Ho-Hos, Ding Dongs, Zingers, Snowballs, and Twinkies. It gets me every time. Hostess's existence is proof that you can stick cream in anything. So we're facing a snack session. How are they going to sell more Twinkies? by embracing 420.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
That's right, Twinkies is making the desperate move to embrace a holiday no other company is willing to embrace right now. 420, the weed holiday, Christmas for cannabis. Yeah, the holiday when Mrs. P caught you in the park with a couple doobies. The 420 holiday started in the 1970s in California. allegedly because 420 was like the police code word for cannabis.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
So if you have a question for Nick or me, go to our Instagram right now, and we'll answer your questions on Friday on Instagram. Hit us up at tboypod on Insta. Ask us anything, including about our three fantastic stories for today. Jack, what's on today's T-Boy? For our first story, Twinkies. Their snack sales have been slipping, so Twinkies has a solution. They're embracing... 420.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
We tried to verify that, jumped in T-boy style. It is a debated origin to this day. And this year, 420 falls on Easter. So Hostess is making it their biggest marketing moment of the year. Fritos wouldn't dare do what Hostess is about to pull off. Hostess is positioning itself as the suite of choice for stoners. Yeah, this is a total marketing overhaul.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Twinkie is temporarily retiring their Twinkie the Kid, the famous family-friendly mascot they've always had for over a century. They're replacing it with a fleet of self-proclaimed munchie mobiles. I'm going to have to hear more about these munchie mobiles, Jack. These are hostess-branded food trucks that set up shop right outside where everyone's like popular weed-smoking spots.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Sound like one of the cool kids there, Jack. Yeah. Apparently, every day at 4.20 p.m. for the next few weeks, these munchie mobiles from Hostess are going to give away, and I quote, twinkies, ding-dongs, and ho-hos outside of cannabis dispensaries on the East and West Coast. You buy some chronic and snag some cupcakes for free on your way out.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
As far as we can tell, this is the boldest branding move in marketing since McDonald's asked Grimace to kill you. And mom ain't happy about it. No, she's still not happy about it. Now, besties, there is a broader, deeper strategy here. Jack and I have told you how brands need to find their Super Bowl. They need to find their one day of the year that's their day and then make it their own.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Well, the risque holiday of 420 was ripe for the taking. So Twinkies is biting into it. Because they will break the laws of physics to stick cream in whatever it is they haven't stuck cream into. So Jack, not going to sugarcoat it, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Twinkies? We're living in the PG-13 economy.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Yetis, in 2021 and 2022, PG-13 movies took a record 60% share of the box office. Big deal. It reflects a shift in what Americans are looking for. It does, beyond the movies. PG-13, it's that adolescent rating that's not for little kids, but it's not aggressively adult either. And for 106 years, Twinkies was focused on PG.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
They were a family-friendly, wholesome dessert that was going after children and their parents. But since this big smuckers deal, Twinkies is pivoting 180 degrees to focus on weed-smoking teens. As pot has legalized across America's states, the culture has shifted from PG to PG-13. More broadly, America is now a PG-13 economy.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
For our second story, since Sunday, China has not sent a single shipment of rare earth metals or super magnets to the United States. And if that doesn't concern you, it absolutely should. It's a huge deal. Because China has all the rare earth metals, and without them, nothing works. And we will connect this to an acupuncture needle. Stick with us, Yetis.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
But in order to tell this story, Jack and I want to travel back 15 years ago, when China and Japan had a territorial dispute. In 2010, the two countries were arguing about who controlled the waters between them. To win that argument, China cut off sales of its rare earth metals to the country of Japan.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And according to the New York Times, that one move by China was devastating to the Japanese economy. Because rare earth metals are critical to our most advanced physical goods. Key word here, rare. Even more valuable than rare earth metals are the super magnets that can only be made with rare earth metals. These things are 15 times more powerful than your regular magnets out there.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And they're pretty much in everything these days, Jack. They're used in cars, drones, wind turbines, missiles. Any advanced electrical product requires these super magnets. These rare earth metals are like the VIPs of the periodic table of elements, right? Like, scandium is the George Clooney of the minerals. And here's the issue. China has a rare earth metal monopoly. That's right.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Twinkies is unleashing a fleet of munchie mobiles to celebrate the controversial cannabis holiday. For our second story, it's the trade war update day 16. China has banned the export of rare earth metals to the United States. This is China's biggest trade war move yet, and it reminds us of acupuncture. And our third and final story is the hot new job trend of 2025. What is it, Jack?
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
60% of rare earth metals are mined in China, and 90% of super magnets come from China. Now, China eventually ended their dispute, and they removed their rare earth metal blockade on Japan. But then Japan went into Code Red. They found alternative sources for these critical minerals, including buying mines over in Australia. But how about the United States?
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
How did we respond after seeing Japan be brought to their knees by a rare earth metal blockade from China? Well, Jack, the situation in America is bad. We're still quite vulnerable. We depend almost completely on China for our rare earth metals. Which leads to the news! On Sunday, China placed an embargo on the United States of these critical minerals and magnets.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
It's an escalation in the trade war, it's a retaliation to Trump's tariffs, it's China shooting back, and it's huge news. Yeah, as we should point out, you're not gonna feel this immediately, like some of the tariff price pops you're already seeing on like your cute tops. But we might feel this big time down the road if this embargo holds.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Jack and I were talking about it, it actually reminds us of the 1970s Middle East oil embargo before America was a big producer of gasoline. Back then, we realized that cars are useless without gas. And today, we recognize that our energy defense and electronics industries are useless without rare earth metals. A pair of iPods require terbium and neodymium, two rare earth metals.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
iPhones, they require half a dozen more rare earth metals. Your refrigerator, your television, your gas-powered Jeep Wrangler, your electric Tesla, they all require rare earth metals and super magnets. Basically everything that runs this podcast. And that is why rare earth metal restrictions could be China's ace in the hole in this trade war.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
This is all the result of poor long-term planning, by the way, of both Republican and Democratic administrations of the last 30 years. I should point out, rare earth metals do exist in America, but opening a new mine for one of them, it takes 30 years due to a whole bunch of onerous regulations. I wish 30 years ago we had started opening up a mine because this stuff sounds pretty important.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Jack, I wish we could hit this takeaway because it's so good. What's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone using electronic stuff? Our trade war weapon is a bazooka. China's is a needle. Yetis, the United States used to produce a majority of the world's rare earth metals, but then China came along. And they used their classic playbook.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
They dropped prices to crush foreign competition, and as a result, all America's mines shut down. So today, China's government actually controls all of their mines, knowing how critical these rare earth metals are for geopolitics. So we're hitting China with broad tariffs across all industries, which hurt all of China's exports.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
But China is now wielding their rare earth metals like a sharp, lethal acupuncture needle. Basically, they found our pressure point. Rare earth metals are a tiny percent of the trade between the United States and China. But this one tiny needle can either help us or harm us big time. And now, besties, there is hope here. If we're smart, we will do two specific things.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
We got to cut a deal with China so that our factories don't run out of rare earth metals. Now we got to cut regulations on rare earth metal mining so we aren't dependent on China in the future for these metals. Because China's needle looks a lot scarier than America's bazooka right now.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Working for mom or dad. Family businesses are surging right now like a scene straight out of The Godfather. But, Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
For our third and final story, the hot new job trend right now, it's working for your parents. Millennials are joining the family business in record numbers with plans to take over when mom and dad retire. And we've got a term for it. We call them nepopreneurs. But Jack, why don't we kick things off with the hero stat? What are we looking at here?
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
The share of small businesses that employ a child of the owner has doubled since 2018. Let's sprinkle on a little more context, man. It's still a tiny proportion of all businesses, but the number of those cases where the owner's child is working for the company has doubled in seven years.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
In fact, in just the last year, the number of in-house legacy hires, the politically correct term for working for your parents- Is up 13%. Not too shabby, man. Basically, parents have gone from telling their kids, you can be anything you want to be when you grow up. Astronaut! To telling their kids, you should work for the family business. HVAC specialist!
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Now, some kids are working for their dad's boring business. Yeah, they're doing plumbing, they're doing farming, they're working the laundromats. That's what they're doing. Others are working for their mom's white-collar business. Consulting, hedge funds, cybersecurity, all that good stuff. Saxon from the White Lotus? Yeah. He is one data point of this bigger trend.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Nepo workers hoping to become Nepo owners. So, Yetis, this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Basically, we're witnessing the godfatherification of America. Everyone's joining the family business, if they can.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
So we gotta ask, why are so many Americans turning mom and dad into their boss? Well, it is a tough jobs market, but specifically, it has never been harder to nail an entry-level job. A survey published in the Wall Street Journal shows that employers plan to hire 6% fewer recent grads this year than last year.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
And if you're a bit older than that, well, you're still facing some job pressure too, because AI is disrupting so many roles out there. So, you're reconsidering that opportunity your parents have always had on the table, to work for the family company. And honestly, it is an economically understandable and justifiable position these days.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
I love your Godfather impression.
The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Because in this economy, get job security, you know your boss, but you're still financially independent. I mean, the downside, Jack, is your dad makes you shovel the walkway and fix the broken toilet, even though it's definitely not in your job description. But kids are swallowing their pride. They're risking being judged by their peers. And they're taking the job for dad.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, January 13th, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yetis, today, like every day, Jack and I are going to make you the most interesting person at the office, aren't we, Jack? Wow. Bold promise, but I think we can deliver. You're going to look and sound fantastic.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
So launching Venue could have resulted in Quartz not just killing Venue because of collusion, but taking another look at the cable TV bundle and saying, hey, that's actually collusion too. Yet he's added all up. And now the ultimate live sports streamer to rule them all has been cut from the team. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone watching sports?
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
There's nothing with more friction than being a sports fan. Yeti's great quote Jack and I found. J.J. Reddick, former basketball player and current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, said, it's not easy to watch an NBA game these days. What he meant was, it's not easy to find an NBA game, right? Because sports media deals are so complex. Think about it, besties.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
If you like a TV show, you subscribe to that one streaming network and then you can watch every episode. If you like music, you subscribe to one music platform and you can listen to every song. But if you like a sports team, you have to subscribe to like six services just to watch all of their games. We're in this awful in-between of cable and streaming. To watch every New York Giants game,
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
you need to subscribe to six different things. Okay, Jack, Rangers games, I like have to have ESPN, I have to have Spectrum, and I have to like have a satellite set up for my parents' Slingbox to get MSG just to see the Rangers. It's been great for the online publishing industry because there's an article every week for how to watch the New York Giants this week. You know what I mean?
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Yeah, because nobody knows. Yet he's, honestly, JJ Redick is right. It's not easy to watch an NBA game and there's no live sports streaming solution. Right now, there is nothing with more friction than being a sports fan. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Chuck E. Cheese is emerging from bankruptcy after a $300 million turnaround makeover.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
One of the things you spent on, invest in the equivalent. For example, if you bought a $100 pair of sneakers, you should then invest $100 in Nike stock. If you spent $17 on a Netflix subscription, buy $17 of Netflix stock. And that is spendvesting. But besties, by far. Jackson, my favorite of favorite New Year's resolutions. What is it, Jack? It's a word that we invented. Planuary. Planuary.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Chuck E. Cheese turned its biggest threat, screen time, into an asset. Because you're getting your kids off that screen. Chuck E. For our second story, to entice workers back into the office, buildings are adding hotel-like amenities for the staff to enjoy. It's the hotelification of work. Hospitality is eating the world. Oh, and if your boss isn't adding a spa right now, tag them.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Send them this episode. Send them the episode. The building manager, send them the episode. And our third and final story is Venue. The one live sports streamer to rule them all was shut down before it even launched. So it's still sadly true. There is nothing with more friction than being a sports fan. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the U.S.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
economy added 256,000 new jobs in December, which actually sent stocks down on Friday. It continues a trend we've seen. The economy is doing too well. Yeah, this strong jobs report, it's going to be seen as a threat because it could reignite the high prices of inflation. So our central bank probably won't cut interest rates at their next meeting because our economy is already too hot. that.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
And second, last year was Earth's hottest since the instrument record-keeping industry began, eclipsing 2023's record year. And for the first time in 2024, planet Earth exceeded the Paris climate targets of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This is basically a routine update that we now do every January, but you can't ignore the warming of the Earth.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
And finally, ski patrollers in Park City are back to work. They've accepted a deal with the mountains. They got their pay raises by two bucks an hour, which is what they asked for the whole time. It comes after a nearly two week strike. Man, Park City just should have paid them in the first place. Ski-pocalypse averted. So Tyler Rice, we know you're doing your bachelor party there pretty soon.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
You guys are going to have a blast. Sounds like you'll actually get to ski. You're going to have a great time. You're going to ski. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because on Mondays, we do trivia about our weekly show. Here it is. What famous American candy was invented by a former frog salesman? Okay, we repeat.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Literally, a guy who sold frogs, the amphibian, eventually invented an amazing candy. Now, hint, the candy tastes nothing like frogs. We repeat. What candy was created by a man who began his career selling frogs? Besties, leave your guesses in the comments right here on Spotify or YouTube, because the answer is the next episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. And we'll tell you tomorrow.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Yetis, you look fantastic to kick off the week and happy planuary to all of you. Oh, could you add my assistant to your colonoscopy appointment? I just want to make sure they're aware. Yeah, the more the merrier at this point. Everyone's pretty much invited. We're not going to live stream this thing, right? TBD, TBD.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Besties, let us know what you're up to in your planuary planning and Jack and I will see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Yee Chook, turning 28 years old in Bloomington, Illinois. And a big shout out to Niels Lundy of the Danish newspaper Dagbladat Borsen, who gave us a shout out. Yeah, Niels is a big Yeti across the pond.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
We love having you with us, and we'd love to meet you at a live T-Boy show in Copenhagen. Happy fifth anniversary to Sneerati and Arpin Chatterjee in San Jose. Fifth anniversary. And Caitlin and Cliff in St. Pete's, Florida, have a one-year anniversary. Congratulations, guys. Congratulations to Kate O'Loughlin in Sydney, Australia, who is just thriving in her new job.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
And Andrew Blazer in Woodinville, Washington, has got a new job at Microsoft celebrating the epic work win. And a quick shout out to Dish Lamachani of San Francisco, whose New Year's resolution is to listen to every episode of T-Boy every day this year. Okay, Dish is a legendary bestie. We gave him a shout out for his birthday last year. Guess what?
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
You plan every month of the year in January. You plan your vacations, your goals, your life, your business for the whole year this month. We basically turned our whole whiteboard into a physical calendar with all 365 days. Planned it. For example, April 19th weekend, Nick, what are you doing? I got a trip to Santa Barbara already planned. Fourth of July, long weekend.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
He's already five for five on listening to T-Boy. If he's hearing this, then he's six for six. Let's go, baby. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
I'm staying at the chalet with friends. June 18th, we're doing a guest interview with an epic CEO. The week before Thanksgiving, we're doing a live T-boy show in a surprise city. Plan, plan, plan, plan. Oh, Jack, you are having a baby in like two months. That's on the plan. So I'm setting up a bassinet in February. And Jack, I already booked my colonoscopy. First one ever, baby.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Five months from now, Nick put it on the counter. For some reason, he invited me. Just so I'm aware. You're welcome to join in the room, but really it's for full transparency, Jack. Can you give me a referral promo code after Nick for 50% off? So besties, Jack and I are doing planuary because we always love our favorite Yogi Berra quote.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else. And that's why our new year's resolution this year is to plan. To plan the whole year in January. Happy planuary to all those who celebrate. Colonoscopies for everyone on the, on me. Jack, let's hit our three stories. It's on the calendar.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Three stories for today's show. Jack, what do we got, man? For our first story, Chuck E. Cheese is back from bankruptcy and now they're selling a pizza subscription. Chuck E. Cheese has a brand new strategy. It's not lowbrow, it's highbrow. For our second story, how are employers getting you back in the office for 2025? Well, Jack, it's with pools, massages, and bars.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
First, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
For our first story, Chuck E. Cheese is back out of bankruptcy and Chuck E. is making a comeback. And Chuck E. Cheese has turned their greatest threat into their new greatest strength. Jack, the pizza, it looks like a jigsaw puzzle. The ball pit looks like a super spreader event. And that logo, is that a mouse? Is that a rat? Is it Mickey's unemployed cousin? What's going on there?
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Chuck E. Cheese, where a kid can be a kid and a parent can regret their life choices. Full disclosure, I've never actually been to a Chuck E. Cheese, Jack. Full disclosure, I have, but I can't remember any of it. Which is concerning. That's how you know it was a good experience. There was like a dupe on 23rd Street we went to, but I don't think there were any in New York, man.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
The first Chuck E. Cheese was opened 48 years ago in San Jose, California. Now, interestingly, the co-founder of Chuck E. Cheese was the co-founder of the video game Atari. Same guy. It was his pet project. It was. He chose pizza as the only Chuck E. Cheese food because it had the fewest components. Very strategic guy. Now, it was supposed to be called Coyote Pizza. True story.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
But the mascot supplier- Actually, he sent him a mouse costume. Yeah. So he just switched it up. He just owned the mouse and called it Chuck E. Cheese. He just rolled with it. Eventually, Chuck E. Cheese IPO'd and they hit a $1.5 billion valuation about 15 years ago. But during the pandemic, they filed for bankruptcy. That ball pit. was literally bankruptcy. But here's the news.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
After a strategic makeover, Chuck E. Cheese is back, baby. Bankruptcy. It's not the end. It's a new beginning. Get this. In bankruptcy, they were able to erase $700 million of debt. The Chuck E. Cheese rat was given a whole new lease on life, literally. And the new private equity owner is investing $300 million on a makeover. And they put a former Six Flags executive atop Chuck E. Cheese's.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
And now Jack, let's pause the pod here for a second and talk about what's gone. What did Chucky get rid of? Cause it was actually some really surprising stuff. They eliminated the animatronic like band. Remember like the rat and the mouse, they're all like playing music in the corner. It was somewhere between entertaining and terrifying. I've seen pictures. Those are gone.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
So are the crawl tunnels. We have to crawl all the way up a tiny tunnel and then the payoff is a big slide down. Makes sense. What about the physical tickets? Those are gone too. Yeah, you'd spend 75 bucks to win 100,000 tickets so you could buy a 25 cent toy. Most controversial of all is that they changed the pizza recipe. Yeah, they're now using real tomato sauce instead of ketchup.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Which shouldn't be controversial. And now, financially speaking, they also changed the business model. Before, you'd only come once or twice a year when your kid or their friends had a birthday party. But now they've subscriptified Chuck E. Cheese. They've got a monthly subscription called the Fun Pass, so you can come as much as you want for eight bucks a month.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Last year, they sold 400,000 of those monthly memberships. That's amazing. It's stable monthly revenue that investors love, plus family spend on extras like food, drink, and some other stuff. Yeah. But here's what we thought was actually the wildest part of the Chuck E. Cheese makeover. They were trying to decide what's better, like what's more popular, a ball pit or a trampoline zone?
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Yetis, this is the hotelification of your office. And our third and final story. The biggest live sports app in years just shut down days before it was set to launch. And former Duke Blue Devil, JJ Redick, is telling us why. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories. I love your sweater, by the way, Jack.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Okay, so Chuck E. Cheese ran a test in Brooklyn and Miami and determined that trampolines get more engagement. So they replaced all the ball pits with trampolines. Pretty sure on eBay right now, you can find used Chuck E. Cheese balls, which I'd pay a premium for. You better bleach those balls. Oh, no. The trampolines now cost money too.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
You actually have to pay an extra premium if you want to jump on that trampoline. The result, despite having far fewer locations than pre-bankruptcy, they have higher revenue today than before bankruptcy. That's right. Chuck E. Cheese, they made deep changes. And despite deep changes, it looks like it worked. Just don't puke in the skee-ball machine. Again. Oh, early 2026 prediction.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
He needs a little time, Jack. So what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Chuck E. Cheese? Chuck E. Cheese spun its greatest threat into its greatest asset. Yetis, five years ago, Chuck E. Cheese said that kids using screens was a threat to their business because kids preferred video games playing at home. But Chuck E. Cheese has now positioned itself as a solution to screens.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Yeah, here's what we noticed. Historically, Chuck E. Cheese was kind of lowbrow. Like, you didn't want to take your kids, but you kind of had to take your kids. Compared to playgrounds or going to the library, Chucky felt like a less wholesome place for parents to take their kids. But today, in a world where parents are now concerned about screens, Chucky Cheese's value has flipped.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Compared to three hours on the iPad or watching YouTube, Chucky feels like an active social playtime, constructive for your kid. So Chucky Cheese, they just made a lot of big IP changes, but they kept the most valuable part, the physical indoor playground. Perfect for the winter if you're in a cold place like Vermont. Just saying.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
We could use a Chuck E. Cheese up here, Chuck E. In a new parenting era that's anti-screen, Chuck E. 's former threat is now an asset. For our second story, signature scents, saltwater spas, midday massages, yetis. To get you back in the office for 2025, there is a brand new corporate strategy. It's the hotelification of the office building.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Besties, this week, JPMorgan Chase just joined Amazon and AT&T in ordering you back to the office five, count them, five days a week. America's biggest bank, our biggest retailer, and our biggest telecom company are all ending work from home permanently. Sweatpants are out, suits are in.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Now, we should point out, on the other side, Spotify is standing firm with their work from anywhere policy worldwide. Yeah, they actually bought a billboard that says on it, our staff are not children, and we're not going to cheat them like that. But according to the Chicago Booth School of Business, a majority of America's big corporations have something in between, a hybrid situation.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Yeah, like three days a week, that's likely what you've got going on right now. The United States is in a Goldilocks situation. We're not all at home. We're not all at the office. We have a few days in the office, a couple days at home. But besties, you know, we guarantee you this. If your company does have an office, they want it to be full most of the days of the week.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Because the CEOs of America's companies, they became CEOs by being first in the office and last out, and they want their employees doing the same. While Gen Z and young millennial parents, they like working from home. So how are these CEOs attracting you into the office? Well, there's a brand new strategy in what is it, Jack? The hotelification of offices. Get this, yetis.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
This year, I'm going to do some kind of exercise every day, even if it's just stretching. Jack, this year, I will eat vegetables every day, even if it's just tomato sauce. Nick, this year I will start a blog on going paleo while learning Spanish. Yetis, right now you are feeling peer pressure to announce your wild New Year's resolution. So we whipped up the best resolution yet. We got your back.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Offices are now borrowing tactics from the hospitality industry to keep you in the office after they get you in the office. Instead of threatening that you'll get fired if you don't come in, they're enticing you in with really nice physical perks in the building.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Okay, in San Francisco, one of these tech companies now has a speakeasy bar and a golf simulator in the office for like multiple companies to use. You're sipping a Negroni with seven irons during the meeting, potentially. There's a law firm that now has meditation pods and an infrared sauna. You can send that Slack message from the sauna. Bessies, these aren't office parks. These are work resorts.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
The New York Times found one large office building that added saltwater therapy spas And kayak rentals, because I guess they're on the Hudson River. Or did they build a river? Like, Jack, is this an office or a Ritz? Oh, I saw that same office, Jack, commissioned a signature scent so that every meeting room smells like eucalyptus and productivity.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
During the pandemic, your living room became competition for your cubicle. And now offices are realizing that. So to compete with your living room, they must make the one-hour commute worth it. by feeling like a hotel. Nick, a masseuse comes into the office every Thursdays. I sign up for those free 15-minute massages. It's an amazing perk. Sorry, one second.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
I'm going to need a new cucumber slice for my midday facial, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies going back to the five-star hotel office? Hotelification is eating the world. Yeti's entrepreneur, Danny Meyer, the restaurant founder, he has this incredible quote we love. He said that hospitality is anticipating the needs of others beyond expectations.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Hospitality is anticipating the needs of others beyond expectations. Well, that is a concept that we are now seeing expand beyond the hospitality industry. Residential buildings are adding hotel-like services available to the tenants. We've covered that on this pod. Airlines are investing huge in upscale lounges. We've covered that on this pod.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
And now offices are luring back workers by treating their office buildings like resorts. Like one of your conference rooms, it's now a massage room. You're welcome. Since the pandemic, travel and hospitality has enjoyed record demand at record high prices. Well, now other industries are paying attention to that. Hospitality, it is eating the world. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
For our third and final story, Venue, the ultimate sports app, the one sports streamer to rule them all is no more. And that highlights the biggest issue facing live sports right now. What is it, Jack? Friction. Friction. The Super Bowl, a Mike Tyson fight, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. If you miss these huge live sports moments, you're missing out on society and culture.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
First... Jack and I are big fans of pie January. Pie January. It's like dry January, but instead of no alcohol, it's only pie. Pie January. Like instead of cocktails, you eat key lime pie. Instead of pinot, it's pecan pie. Pie January. Trust us, it's going to take off. We're also fans of a resolution called spendvesting. Every week, look at your credit card statement.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Awkward next day at the office. Besties, that is why we have called live sports the holy grail of TV. In this era of personalized feeds, live sports is the only thing all of America still pays attention to. So one year ago, three big companies tried to put live sports into one single streamer to rule them all. It was a joint venture by Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers, and it was called Venu.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Venu, V-E-N-U. You could cut the cable cord, but you'd still get ESPN, Fox, TNT, TBS, all for just 43 bucks a month. That was the ultimate live sports app, Jack. 43 bucks a month sounds like a lot, but for all the live sports channels, it's actually a good deal. Just live sports, the most valuable content on TV. What a world we were about to get. Venue was supposed to launch any day now.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
You were probably going to watch the Super Bowl because you're a Venue subscriber. But a flag on the field, Jack. Here's the news. On Friday, Venue got cut. Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers issued a joint statement saying Venue is done. They're shutting it down. Awkward. Now, Jack, what is the reason why the ultimate sports app is suddenly no more? Kind of wild.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
It involves two lawsuits and one existential risk. Now, the first lawsuit was from a streaming company called Fubo. Fubo argued that those three companies were colluding to control sports. Yeah, why can these three big media behemoths set one price? That's not competition. That's collusion. That should be illegal. So last week, Disney made that lawsuit go away by basically acquiring Fubo.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
Yeah, there you go. Problem solved.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
That lawsuit, all right, maybe they don't have to worry about that. Problem solved. But then a second lawsuit was coming, according to reports, that was going to argue the same thing. But this time, the lawsuit was from DirecTV. And according to reports, Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers were afraid that the lawsuits were right, that this new venue app actually was collusion. It is collusion.
The Best One Yet
🧀 “Return of the Rat” — Chuck E. Cheese’s $1B comeback. Hotelification of offices. Disney’s sports streamer airballs.
They're supposed to be competing with each other, but they're agreeing to one price. It's like the opposite of competition. Jack, even worse, the cable TV bundle that they still own that had like ESPN. that they make money on right now, that would be collusion too.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, January 31st, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. Here's the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, I know what's happening this weekend. Is this part one of the Datchler party? Is that what's going on? There we go. Yeah. Okay. I'm having six buddies from college up for a ski weekend.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Yeah, and oh, unlike all the other meats we mentioned, pork has also transitioned into a topping. Bacon bits. I mean, pork's quite versatile if you think about it. So, besties, the biggest pork company on earth, they aren't winning with more market share. They're winning with more meal share. My brothers and I can attest to it.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the pork industry? Smithfield borrowed a strategy from the car industry. Brand graduation. Yeti's Audi and Volkswagen, their cars are made with many of the same parts in many of the same factories because they're owned by the same company.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Yes, Audi does add some features in the Audi logo so they can charge you more, but it's the same car as the Volkswagen. Well, the goal of this strategy, it's to get you to start with a cheaper Volkswagen. And then as you grow up and make more money, you graduate to buying a fancy Audi. And Smithfield does the same thing with pork. Get this, they own over a dozen different pork brands.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Okay, that's a lot. It surprised us. We also were shocked like why this pork company said the word brand 134 times in their IPO paperwork. Pork is a commodity. Yes. But each brand is a different price point despite being the same underlying product. So just like a car company, Smithfield wants you to graduate from one decent brand to the next premium one.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? White Lotus season three starts in two weeks, but it's already driving tourism in Thailand. That's the White Lotus effect. It shows how millennials have moved beyond experiential into existential. For our second story, it's OpenAI. They've accused China's deep seek of distillation, which is copying their entire AI model.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Only fans in the arena get to vote. That's right. Over the next four home games, fans in the stands are the ones who vote on the team's name. That's it. So if you're in the stands at the next Utah hockey game, you vote on a permanent name for the club. Basically, the future of the franchise depends on 18,000 rowdy and potentially drunk fans.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
It's the perfect example of the curse of the first mover. When the first mover bears the cost that no one else has to pay. And our third and final story. Smithfield is now a pure play publicly traded pork company, or as I call it, the Duchess of Pork. They've got 12 pork brands. So you can graduate from a Volkswagen brat to an Audi Frankfurter. But yetis, this pod's not over yet.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Here's what else you need to know today. First, we woke up yesterday in a way you probably did too, seeing horrible news. An American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. Here's the latest as of this recording. All 64 people on the plane are presumed dead, as well as the three people that were in the helicopter. Including a few elite members of the U.S.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
figure skating team also on that flight. It's an awful story. The most fatal aviation disaster on U.S. soil in 23 years since September 11th. The reasons for the collision still under investigation. We'll update you when we know to. And second, overlooked detail from Microsoft's earnings yesterday. LinkedIn. Get this, LinkedIn brings in an estimated $16 billion in revenue each year.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
That makes LinkedIn three times bigger in terms of revenue than Snap. True. And three times bigger than Twitter's last revenue announcement. Oh, other tech news, by the way, Apple had record earnings, although their iPhone sales fell. And finally, Super Bowl ads are hitting $8 million a piece. That gets you 30 seconds. That's a record expensive price tag for a Super Bowl commercial.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
They're already sold out and we're expecting AI ads just like we saw crypto ads a couple of years ago. The same teams are in this year's Super Bowl, but new tech in the commercials. Great point, Jack. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because it's our favorite part of the latest episode of The Best Idea Yet. The founder of Red Bull had an incredible growth hack.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
This is brilliant. He used to go around parties and leave empty Red Bull cans all around the bar floor. When Red Bull launched in America, they would go to bars at college towns and just leave empty cans so you'd think that people were drinking Red Bull, even though they hadn't drank it yet, and then you'd order more Red Bull.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
So then, as you're walking across the dance floor to get a drink at the bar- One more, Tony! You see all these Red Bull cans on the floor, and you're like, yeah, I guess I should get this hot drink that everyone's drinking. But the cans, you know, it was framed. Red Bull vodka. I guess everyone else is having a Jack. It was staged. That's the word, staged.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
That was just one of our favorite parts on the true origin story of Red Bull. And you can hear the whole story on The Best Idea Yet, our weekly show. We got a link in the episode description. Check it out. Yetis, you're looking fantastic over there. Jack, for the bachelor party, are we thinking Thailand? I'm thinking Thailand.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Well, it's Utah, so I don't know how drunk they'll be, but... But Jack, the three name options, what are they going to be voting on? First is stick with the current name, the Utah Hockey Club. That's the same as the current name. It's bad. The second option is the Utah Wasatch. Which is the name of the local mountain range. It's a Native American term for mountains. It's a pretty good option.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Feeling Thailand. No, no, no. I don't know. Four seasons. I think if we do the four seasons, it's a write-off. Yeah. Okay. Besties, we'll see you in Thailand. Celebrate the wins. Have fun this weekend. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Liz down in lovely New York City, partying the night away. And happy birthday to Peter Trinh, who's turning 33 in San Jose, California.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
And Jessenia Ure is turning 36 years old over in Braintree, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Happy birthday to Sagar Kumar in Chicago, Illinois. And Jackie Alvarez is celebrating on the longest beach in America. Happy birthday, Jackie. Happy birthday to Russ Bacon, ironically a vegetarian in Alameda, California. You're welcome for the Smithfield story.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
And Brendan Eng in New York City's got a new job and is listening to us right now at 2X speed. Nick, Russ Bacon is a vegetarian. He doesn't like the Smithfield story. Sorry about that one, Russ. And Michael Melito in San Diego is going to win the Royal Rumble and go to WrestleMania on his birthday. Michael, I've been to two WWE events, but it was back when it was WWF. Oh.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
I saw Bill Goldberg do the jackhammer. And yeah, I did it the whole summer on the trampoline after that. And Wilson, the Yeti I saw in the Ferry Building, great to meet you. And he's got an awesome pod. It's called the Fish Sauce Pod. And good luck to Claire, who's got a tennis tournament in San Francisco. We think she's going to crush it.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
And a happy gotcha day anniversary to Taylor Raven and Penny, who are celebrating down in Nashville, Tennessee. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock in Apple. Wow, is that so? Oh, I see what you're doing now. What's your name, man? You see what I did there? You see what I did there?
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
If you like The Best One Yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
The third choice is our favorite, the Utah Mammoth. Ah, as in the Utah Wooly Mammoth. The Mighty Mammoth. unclear if you add an S for the plural or not. What's the plural of mammoth? Mam-I. But merch opportunities for the mammoth are huge, Jack. Mammoth coats, mammoth milk. How about a Tuscan tonic in the club box?
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Jack, this team could resurrect a mammoth for the home games and have it drag the Zamboni across the ice. Funny twist in the story, though. The team originally wanted to be called the Utah Yetis because Yetis are cold and hockey's cold. But they couldn't get the Yeti trademark. And was that? Sorry, Utah. You're going to have to speak to our lawyers. Don't let him have it, guys.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
But besties, what do you think the Utah hockey name should be? Which name would you choose for this entirely new team? It's a fake vote for us. A real vote for 18,000 lucky Utes. Drop a vote in the comments. In the meantime, it's democracy on ice. Let's hit our three stories.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
It's the quiet before having a third baby storm. Remember, four weeks before the due date of a baby, you must go on a bachelor party. It is required by the doctors and we hear it all the time. I don't think it's going to be a quiet before the storm. It's a storm before the storm. But we've got three fantastic stories for today's show. Jack, what's on today's T-boy?
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
For our first story, The White Lotus Season 3 is already driving a 20% surge of tourism in Thailand. It's the White Lotus effect. It's beyond experiential travel. This is existential. Yetis, there are four words that describe the TV show The White Lotus, and here they are. Sex, money, and room service. Someone's going to get undressed. Yep. Someone's going to die.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
I don't know who, Jack, but someone's getting a toe licked. Ah! The White Lotus created by Mike White, a reality show contestant on Survivor who turned into a Hollywood writer and director. It's now one of HBO's most reliable top shows. Yeah. Because season one and season two drove viewership up 50% to 10 million viewers per episode.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Could you sprinkle on a little more Jennifer Coolidge context for us over there? 10 million viewers per episode is more than succession on streaming and more than NCIS on cable. So it's a big deal. But when it comes to the White Lotus, the real star isn't Portia and Albie's love triangle or Tanya's glasses. The real star... is the hotels.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Season one took place at the Wailea Hotel Resort on Hawaii. Lovely, they got infinity pools. Season two took place at the San Domenico Hotel in Sicily. It's got a view of Mount Etna, stunning vistas, bellissima. And season three, starting in two weeks, will be at Koh Samui Resort in Thailand. But here's what we find fascinating about all those beautiful hotels.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
They're all owned by the same company. Yeah. The Four Seasons. Season three premieres in two weeks from this Sunday, February 16th at a Four Seasons Hotel. And here's the wild part. There is an economic phenomenon from the White Lotus when it comes to tourism. That's right. And we call it the White Lotus Effect. Get this, Nick.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
After seasons one and two in Hawaii and Sicily, visitors to those two regions rose by 20%. We repeat, there was a 20% jump in tourism just because one TV show on a streaming network was filmed there. And 20% is huge. It is huge. 15 million people visited Sicily in 2023. 20% more than 15 million people? We're talking 3 million additional tourists just because of the White Lotus.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Three million people saw Rocco and Valentina's lovely tension, and then they booked a trip to Terramina. Honey, this is where that kiss happened. Full disclosure, this is Nick. We did two of those hotels. I'm disappointed you didn't go to hotel number three. Can I throw in some full, full disclosure? We stayed at the San Domenico Sicily Hotel two months before they filmed the season there.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
So what are you trying to say? It's even cooler that you were there? No, what I'm trying to say is we got it a little bit cheaper. Prices at that hotel are now up 300%. True, true. Even hotels hundreds of miles away in Bangkok are already seeing a surge because of the White Lotus season that hasn't even happened yet. Huge missed opportunity for the U.S. airline industry. Great point, Jack.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
For our first story, White Lotus Season 3 premieres two weeks from this Sunday on HBO. But the White Lotus effect has already arrived in Thailand, and it turned travel existential. For our second story, we now know how DeepSeek caught up to ChatGPT so quickly. The old copy and paste. And it reveals the curse of the first mover. And our third and final story.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
There's no direct flights from the United States to Bangkok. But besties, Jack and I think the White Lotus effect reflects something even bigger than this combination of Clue, Succession, and Gilligan's Island. Is that what the White Lotus is? Basically. It says something about society and millennials. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies seeing the White Lotus effect?
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Millennials made everything experiential. Now we want it existential. Yetis, Jack and I have seen how Hollywood-inspired travel happened before. Lord of the Rings in New Zealand, Game of Thrones sent you to Croatia, Emily in Paris made you go to Paris. But in The White Lotus, there's something more substantial. There is a cross-industry mega-deal between Hollywood and hospitality.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Okay, this is what we found fascinating. The Four Seasons Hotel signed a real global partnership deal with HBO. That means the hospitality and media industries combined in a way we've never seen before. Now, it's all related to the White Lotus, but I wonder if the next House of Dragons season is going to have a Four Seasons on Dragonstone. Which they would sign a deal on.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Well, Jack, right now, this weekend, you can book a White Lotus weekend at Four Seasons Hotels. It's like 4,000 bucks and you're immersed in a White Lotus theme. It mimics the experience in the show, minus the debt. Yeah, someone from the FBI has got to look into this White Lotus. Now, a generation ago, Yetis, our parents wanted materials, then we millennials wanted experiences.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
But now this has gone a step further. For the entire weekend, your life is transformed into this TV show. That's not experiential. The next trend in consumerism is existential. For our second story, OpenAI just accused China's deep seek of the worst sin in tech. And here it is. Copy, paste. Every industry is vulnerable to the curse of the first mover.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Now, Yetis, last weekend, China's DeepSeek shattered the American sense of AI superiority. We called it a Sputnik moment. In fact, this Chinese AI app is still number one in the App Store, ahead of number two, ChatGPT. Remember, this caused the entire stock market to drop earlier this week. Well, here's the latest. ChatGPT's parent company, OpenAI, accused DeepSeek of the greatest crime in tech.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
It's Specifically, they accused this Chinese app, its new rival, of distillation. According to the Wall Street Journal, distillation is when a new system learns from an existing one by asking it hundreds of thousands of questions and analyzing the answers. Jack, we got to translate on that tech speak over there, please.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
In other words, DeepSeek knows as much as ChatGPT does because it's copied ChatGPT's entire brain. Boom! There it is, besties. When we first covered DeepSeek, we could not believe that they built the same artificial intelligence as ChatGPT at 1 100th of the cost. Well, this would explain it. It was distillation. They copied the whole thing. But pause the pod here for a second, Jack.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Are we saying that ChatGPT is accusing China of copying their AI? Yes. When ChatGPT has copied pretty much everyone to create artificial intelligence? They've scraped the entire internet without anyone's permission, basically. I feel like Scarlett Johansson is laughing right now. Good point. Pretty, pretty, pretty ironic.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Now, Yetis, OpenAI did not provide evidence of their accusation, but David Sachs, who is Trump's new AI czar, agrees with their accusation. So OpenAI's new top priority is to make copying their AI a lot harder. But you know what? That's actually really hard. It could be a whack-a-mole situation. As soon as OpenAI closes one vulnerability to copycats, the copycats find another way to copy.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
And then if OpenAI and Google fail to stop you from copying their AI tech, well, then they'll have no incentive to keep innovating and building more AI tech. Yeah, this is a really big deal. Are you pausing the pod a second time, Jack? Think of it like building a bridge to artificial intelligence. Constructing that bridge is really expensive.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
The biggest IPO of 2025 so far is a bacon business. Smithfield Foods is now a publicly traded pork stock. Links or patty? Trick question. Both. Jack and I jumped into the world's biggest sausage stock for you. We found some wild stuff. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories, Jack. Shakespeare once asked, what's in a name?
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Right, Jack, because instead of bricks, this AI bridge requires fancy NVIDIA computer chips that cost $100,000 each. So why would OpenAI lead the charge? And build the bridge to artificial intelligence if once they're done, the competition can use it for free. That's the risk of distillation. That's the risk of someone being able to copy and paste your AI. Now, we call this the first mover curse.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Ah, the curse of the first mover. When it makes more economic sense to be second than it does to be first. But that led Jack and I... To a takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over in tech? The first mover curse is way more prevalent than you think. Yetis, some property simply isn't protectable by law, so it gets copied. For example, in the news industry. Yes.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
The Wall Street Journal might invest big money to report on a big scoop, but then any TikToker or any podcast can use all the information from that article for free for their own business. The TikToker is basically a better investment because they didn't have the cost of the journalism. Or another example, Walmart. Sam Walton copied the exact business model of Costco and Costco's predecessor. Why?
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Well, because you can't trademark a business model. And of course, we created a special word to describe Mark Zuckerberg's copying. I'm looking in the dictionary under Z and I see zucking, Jack. Distillation is a fancy word, but copying someone else's business goes way back. The first mover curse, you know what? It's more prevalent than you think. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
For our third and final story before the weekend, Smithfield, the world's biggest pork producer, brings home the bacon. Literally, they just brought it home. And they just IPO'd thanks to a strategy they took from the car industry. Abe Froman. Jack, does that name mean anything to you? Is that the sausage king of Chicago? That is exactly who that is, Jack.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
But Smithfield Foods is the sultan of sausage. It's officially an $8 billion publicly traded pork powerhouse. That's right, Yetis. Smithfield just became the biggest food IPO in the last four years. It is now a pure play publicly traded pork stock. They sell bellies, butts, hams, loins. They raise the whole hog on their 39 farms. That's right.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Well, in professional sports, there's actually a lot in a name. Mostly chance. Yeah. And merchandise. But yetis, the Utah Hockey Club finally decides on their permanent name this weekend. Because the newest NHL team, the Utah Hockey Club, still doesn't have a name. But over the next four days, the fans will vote for the new name. And what's the wildest part, Jack?
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Actually, we should point out this pork company does make some beef too. Nathan's famous all-beef hot dogs, they're made by Smithfield. But when it comes to this pork company, they are a piggy bank. Jack, let's talk the numbers here. Last year, they did $14 billion in revenue and made a record profit.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Now, we should also point out this is a Chinese-owned company, but now that they've IPO'd, they'll be less likely to be caught up in a trade war with America. It was Chinese-owned, but it's very much American. There are 39 farms, 37,000 workers, and 10 million hogs, predominantly in the United States.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Besties, if you've had a McDonald's McRib, if you've had an IHOP sausage, if you've enjoyed the famous Costco hot dog soda $1.50 combo... you've eaten Smithfield's pork. But there's more under this natural casing than you realize. Yes, there is. Because yet he's, you know, as Jack's freshman year roommate and having visited you in Berlin, Jack, I've seen you cook a bratwurst or two.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
I feel like this is your area of expertise. What is this Smithfield pork company's true innovation? I also grew up in a literal sausage fest with three brothers in my house. So Jack, what is this poor company's innovation? They're not focused on market share. They're focused on meal share. Meal share. Yetis, Smithfield is a huge player in the meat market. Get these numbers.
The Best One Yet
🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
20% of packaged meats in America are Smithfield products. That's right. If you're sinking your teeth into a sub, there's a 20% chance that's a Smithfield salami. But as we reviewed the IPO paperwork, we saw a term we'd never seen before. Day part. They mentioned it nine times. Yeah, day part, as in Smithfield products are eaten during all parts of your day, the day parts.
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🪷 “The White Lotus Effect” — HBO’s tourism bump. DeepSeek’s copy/paste. The Bacon IPO.
Smithfield boasted to Wall Street that they're eaten for breakfast, lunch, snack time, and dinner time. Pork is eaten in all four of the main meals, and that's a differentiator. Bacon owns breakfast. Ham owns lunch. Hot dogs and sausage dominate dinner. Chicken, on the other hand, it's never been a breakfast food in America. And it's not snacked on here either.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, March 21st. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. I'm sorry, Jack. Did we set a record this week? Record number of recordings? That's right. We did five T-Boy episodes, two TBIY episodes. Oh, we got a special one today, man.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
NVIDIA is suddenly going to be powering General Motors' self-driving cars. NVIDIA's GPUs are going to be in your next Corvette, handling the hands-free cruise control. And finally, out of nowhere, NVIDIA launched a new robot with Walt Disney. You got to watch the video. It's wild. It's called Blue. It's about half as tall as a human being, and it looks like WALL-E mixed with R2-D2.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And the reason they're doing this? Well, NVIDIA chips will power Disney World robots from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot. And every one of the robots is going to have two NVIDIA computers inside it. Next time you're talking to Tinkerbell, she's going to have a couple NVIDIA chips in her back.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
So nobody expected Taco Bell, Cadillac, and Disney to be on stage at this computer chip conference in San Jose. However, Jensen's $3 trillion chip company is doing way more than chatbots these days. They use this conference to show you that AI is going to be everywhere. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at NVIDIA hosting the Super Bowl of Artificial Intelligence?
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🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
NVIDIA has found the Barbie effect, but B2B. Yetis, remember this detail from the 2023 Barbie movie? Barbie did a record 165 collaborations before the movie. Every company that could launched a pink partnership with the Barbie movie. Yeah, they did. They wanted their value to increase by association with Barbie. That, what Jack just described, is the Barbie effect.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
But typically, we only see it for consumer brands, and yet NVIDIA has broken that molding. Computer chips... are a very unconsumer business. Yeah, they totally are not, Jack. It's a B2B backend, historically boring enterprise. But NVIDIA's market domination, NVIDIA's tech breakthroughs, they now signal excellence even to the consumer.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
That's why Pizza Hut and Disney World want to be publicly associated with NVIDIA. And that's why NVIDIA's industry event looks more like a football game these days. Every brand wants a touch of NVIDIA green, just like they wanted a touch of Barbie pink two years ago. And that's the Barbie effect, even if no consumer will ever buy an NVIDIA chip.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Apple TV Plus content wins tons of Emmys, but the streamer reportedly loses a billion dollars a year. We found three mistakes by Apple. Apple, you gotta have a growth mindset. For our second story, it's Ben & Jerry's. They sued their parent company again, alleging violation of their wild merger agreement.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Ben & Jerry's, their acquisition failed for the same reasons Barstools failed. And our third and final story is NVIDIA. They hosted the Super Bowl of AI in San Jose this week. Dozens of splashy partnerships were announced. Yeah, we call it the Barbie effect, but for chips, because everyone wants a little touch of NVIDIA green. But yetis, this pod's not over yet.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Your work self has no idea what's going on with your at-home self. Because your brain is severed. But whether you watch the show or not, there is one looming character you need to know about. Don't worry, besties, no spoilers in today's show. That character is Lumen. Lumen. And it's a scary company. Oh, Lumen's very scary. Lumen is the evil corporation in Severance.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Here's what else you need to know today. First, congratulations to The Skimm, the newsletter that kicked off the newsletter movement over a decade ago. They just sold. After 13 years, The Skimm is no longer independent. They sold to Everyday Health Group. As of today, they've got 5 million readers and they've raised $30 million in venture capital money.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
We don't know how much it sold for, but celebrate the wins on that deal. And second, Edible Arrangements is getting into other edibles. Edible Arrangements, a private company, sells decorative fruit bouquets and balloon assortments. Yeah, full disclosure, I sent a huge balloon one over to Jack after the baby came. It was awesome. Everyone was chomping on cantaloupe all week.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
You know you love those pineapple smoothies. But for years, they've wanted to get in on the growing cannabis market. So Edible Arrangements acquired the domain edibles.com after years of trying, and they're launching a platform for edible cannabis and hemp products. And finally, the Boston Celtics have sold for a record $6 billion.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
The buyer is Bill Chisholm, a six-foot man in finance who may or may not have a trust fund, but definitely went to Dartmouth and Wharton. Yeah, it's exactly who you'd expect would buy the Boston Celtics. Yeah, to sprinkle out some more context, this is the highest price ever paid for a North American sports team. There are other North American franchises more valuable.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
They just haven't sold for an amount this high. Yeah, the Yankees are worth $7.6 billion and the Cowboys are worth $10 billion. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Kevin Dolan over in Yonkers, New York. Why is the NCAA basketball tournament referred to as the Big Dance? Well, the nickname Big Dance goes back to Marquette's coach, Al McGuire, back in 1977.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
When asked if he would wear a lucky blazer throughout the tournament, he responded, you gotta wear the blue blazer when you gotta do the Big Dance. Well, that year Marquette went on to win the national NCAA title. They won the big dance. And so the March Madness basketball tournament has been referred to ever since as the big dance. So besties, if you've got the best fact yet, hit us up.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
We got a link in this episode description. We want to get you on the pod. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And Jack, you look fantastic. I believe we've got a little surprise coming to the Yetis this weekend, don't we, tomorrow? We're dropping a sample, a free Costco sample of our Best Idea Yet episode. Yeah, we're dropping a sample of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
That's coming tomorrow, so check it out on this feed. And in the meantime, Jack, it's the weekend. Let's celebrate some wins. We recorded more shows this week than we ever have in our lives. Eight episodes. Hey! Great episodes. Stay tuned for this CEO one. This is going to be a great interview. Have a great weekend, Nick, and I'll see you Monday. Can't wait.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And before we go, a happy 17th birthday to Keelan C. the Yeti in Lake Worth, Florida, celebrating the wins. Happy birthday to a father and son, Antonio and Augie Maldonado in Austin, turning 32 and five years old. Enjoy some barbecue. And Kiara Boy is down in Provo, Utah, has never missed a T-boy, so we would never miss that birthday.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
celebrating happy birthday to sarah keel of knoxville tennessee the mother of three wonderful gray cats and jet fries turning seven years old celebrating in the anaheim hills of california happy birthday jet and happy birthday to peter chow in dallas texas and john doherty happy 30th birthday to newton new jersey never missed an episode again john will never miss your birthday
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
But while Lumen is fictional in this show, there's a bunch of actual Lumens in real life. In fact, the Wall Street Journal counted dozens of Lumens that really exist in real life corporate America. For example, there's Lumen Design over in Pennsylvania. Or Jack, there's Lumen Dental up in Detroit. There's Lumen Telecom down in Louisiana.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And happy 40th birthday to Amen Silva, who's celebrating on the islands of Hawaii. Not too shabby. And Willa G., happy fifth birthday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Willa, thanks for listening and being a Yeti. And Chrissy Dohler is getting her hair blown out tonight for the real Friday. And congratulations to Catherine Hedrick and Clellan McMurray in Alexandria, Virginia, who are getting hitched.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And Brie and Jeff Thomas down in Princeton have their first date night of 2025 and are celebrating a T-boy pod-iversary. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Disney, Unilever, and Netflix. And Nick and I both own stock of Apple.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
There's even a Lumen in Poland that saw job applications jump 300% this year. Because applicants love severance and they want real Lumen to be on their resume. In fact, Jack and I took this further. There's actually a long history of fictional Hollywood companies in the real world. Yes, there is. There's a real Waystar company in Idaho. Just like the show Succession.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And there's a real Acme company in San Francisco. Just like the show Looney Tunes. Jack, I just discovered a Vandelay Industries over in Mumbai, India. Can you believe that? Importing, exporting? Classic. Thinking about just focusing on the exporting? Yeah. It's exactly their specialties. So, Yetis, we hope your Audis enjoy the final episode of Severance tonight.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And if you're lucky, Frank from Finance will pay for a waffle party. I don't get that reference. Nick wrote that line. Just keep refining the macro data, Jack. Praise Keir. Let's hit our three stars.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And today we're interviewing an executive, a CEO and co-founder of a legendary business. Oh, that episode's going to be amazing. We're interviewing him later today. And besties, you'll get that episode in just a few weeks. Eight episodes of production in one week? That's a personal record. One sec, Jack. I got to grab a lozenge. In the meantime, we got three fantastic stories for today's T-Boy.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
For our first story, Apple TV+, it's got another hit with Severance, which closes out season two tonight. Despite lots of Emmy nominations and a bunch of award show recognition, Apple TV+, is Apple's only division that's never turned a profit. And we'll explain why. But first, Jack, I mean, this is a big night for Apple's streaming division, the finale of Severance.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
We just dedicated a whole intro to the good news about that, though. So here's the bad news. Apple TV Plus is only 1% of all of streaming. That's it. In fact, according to a report from The Information, Apple TV Plus is Apple's biggest loser. It loses a billion dollars every year. Is Michael Scott running this business? What's going on over there at Apple, man?
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Apple streaming service is the company's only not profitable subscription. Now, Yetis, the problem is not that severance costs $20 million per episode, which it does. The problem Apple is facing is something we've seen in sports. They've made a bunch of unforced errors. Unforced errors. Jack, could you please sprinkle on some media context over there, please?
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Apple is doing great when it comes to content. Since 2019, they've had hit shows that win awards. They're referred to as the new HBO. Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Severance, all of them. Emmy award-winning red carpet prestige TV. Coda won best picture at the Oscars. We Crashed was a personal favorite of ours. But financially speaking, it's a different story.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Yeah, all that content we just mentioned, yeah, that costs $5 billion a year. So Nick and I crunched the numbers. Apple needs 42 million subscribers to Apple TV+, who paid $10 a month to pay just for that content budget. Now we should point out Apple does have 45 million subscribers, not too shabby.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
But they're not profitable because of other surprise costs that are crushing the streamer's profits. That whole campaign to win all those awards, that actually costs money to run. And flying around the talent in private jets was a total surprise to Apple how much that costs. Yeah, no joke.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
The financial team at Apple was like really upset about how much money they were spending on private jets, right, Jack? But Apple could solve all this problem if they just got more subscribers. Yeah, why can't Apple TV Plus become a profit puppy, man? They're getting all the awards. Why can't they get the eyeballs? They have a fraction as many subscribers as Netflix, HBO Max, or Amazon Prime.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And the reason is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Apple's problem in content is that they're missing a growth mindset. Yetis, Apple has made three key anti-growth mistakes that are the reason, in our opinion, it is unprofitable in streaming. Mistake number one, arrogance. Yeah. They've only let people watch on Apple devices.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Apple gated Ted Lasso to Apple products only, hoping you'd buy an iPhone just to watch Ted play soccer. Ted Lasso's great. but is it really going to make someone switch their tech ecosystem from Android to iPhone? It was only last month, Jack, after six years from their launch date, that Apple finally let Android users download Apple TV+. Mistake number two, high prices.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Jack, what do we got on the show? For our first story. Apple TV Plus has a really big night tonight. Huge. It's the season finale of Severance. But did you know that Apple TV Plus loses a billion bucks a year? Apple TV Plus is Apple's only money-losing business, and we'll explain why. For our second story, Ben and Jerry sued its parent company in the biggest corporate drama of the year.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Apple TV hardware is priced at 200 bucks, while Roku is just 18. Firesticks, they're just 20 bucks. It's tough for Ted Lasso to sell Apple products. when those Apple products are 10 times pricier than the competition. And mistake number three, no ad-supported version. Apple is the only video streamer that makes you pay full price.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
But in this economy, people are happy to watch ads to save five bucks a month. They could probably add 10 million subscribers easily if they offered a $5 ad version. So add it all up, besties, and Apple TV Plus has content that wins awards, but not enough eyeballs. They're lacking a growth mindset. For our second story, Ben & Jerry's is suing the very company that owns it, Unilever.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
The kid's suing the parent over here. The Ben & Jerry's acquisition failed, though, for the same reason that the barstool acquisition failed. We'll explain. Yeah, that's right. We're comparing Ben & Jerry's to Barstool. That's exactly right. But first, honestly, favorite part about the Ben & Jerry's story. What is it, Jack? Ben & Jerry's basically bought the house that I grew up in.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Yeah, no one really knows this, but Ben & Jerry's actually did an IPO decades ago. But like, you could only live in Vermont, right? Only Vermonters could participate in the Ben & Jerry's IPO. It was wild. True. Unbeknownst to me, my parents bought like three grand of stock- Incredible. It's six X to 18 grand. And they use that money for the down payment of the house I grew up in.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Honestly, your mom and dad deserve a flavor named after them after that, Jack. My house is flavored chocolate chip cookie dough. Oh, that's big Ben and Jerry's money right there. Now, Yetis, Jack and I actually did a whole episode on Ben and Jerry for our show, The Best Idea Yet, so we're very versed in the business.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And we'd always wanted to do that because those two are best friends just like Nick and I are, except those two didn't get into medical school and had no idea how to run a business. Well, they turned that ignorance into the largest ice cream company in America, and today it's owned by Unilever. But hold the fish food, please, Jack.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Because Ben and Jerry's just sued Unilever, their parent company, accusing them of wrongly firing the Ben and Jerry's CEO. And Jack, could you open up the lid on this pint and tell us what is in the lawsuit exactly, man? The lawsuit says that Unilever fired Ben and Jerry's CEO for his politics, not his performance.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
They further allege that Unilever unlawfully blocked Ben and Jerry's Instagram posts about free speech and Palestine. And four years ago, Ben and Jerry also sued Unilever for stopping their social media posts about Black Lives Matter. This is like a kid fighting against their parents. Yeah, like the kid wants to do the protests on campus and their dad's like, um... I'm paying tuition. Go to class.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Yeah. Except Ben and Jerry's have a trump card on their parents like no other child-parent relationship. And Jack and I found it in the fine print. 25 years ago, Yetis, in the merger agreement, when Ben and Jerry's sold to Unilever, there was an unprecedented legal clause. This clause was called the Mission Driven Governance Clause.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
It was something Ben and Jerry specifically wanted that would split their company into two different scoops of control. Okay, on the one hand, Unilever would control the business. That was one scoop. After all, they're buying the company. So Unilever gets to decide what kind of dairy goes into the ice cream, how many chocolate chips, and how much cookie dough in the Chunky Monkey.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
But Ben and Jerry's also created another board that would remain independent of Unilever to oversee the brand. And this independent board was in charge of Ben and Jerry's social activism. where they would advocate for progressive causes. Right, like the independent board would be in charge of the Ben and Jerry's Foundation, which donates to progressive causes as well.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And it's this independent board and this unique separation that explains why Ben and Jerry's social handles talk just as much about social justice as they do ice cream. Like they're posting about UNICEF on the one hand more than they're posting about caramel swirls over there. And so 25 years later, Ben and Jerry says that Unilever's blocking of their social posts violates that merger agreement.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Because Ben and Jerry's acquisition deal reminds us of Barstool. And our third and final story, NVIDIA just hosted what used to be their annual tech conference, but what is now the Super Bowl of AI. Because NVIDIA is borrowing a strategy straight out of Barbie. Yeah, that Barbie. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories, Jack. Love the mix today.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
And they allege the CEO was fired for his role in social activism, not for his performance. Which is another violation of the merger. All this drama, it is a big reason why Unilever is actually spinning off Ben & Jerry's into a new separate publicly traded ice cream company. They're metaphorically disowning this child who never listens to them.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Oh, side note, by the way, Ben & Jerry, they want to buy back the business, don't they, Jack? How epic would that be if Ben & Jerry's, 25 years after selling Ben & Jerry's, buy back Ben & Jerry's? And then they launch like a new flavor called Contempt Mint Chip. It's the low-key Unilever flavor. One more order of lawsuit soft serve, please.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
So Jack, I scream, you scream, we all scream for some legal clarity. What is the takeaway for our buddies over at Ben & Jerry's? Ben & Jerry's acquisition didn't work for the same reason Barstool didn't work. Yeti's, Vermont's Ben & Jerry, and Boston's Barstool Sports, they both got acquired in multi-hundred million dollar deals. But both parent companies came to regret those acquisitions.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Yeah, they did. For the same fundamental reason. Because the brands of Ben & Jerry and Barstool are actually built on a foundation of political outspokenness. The corporations that bought them thought they could get the brand love of Ben & Jerry's and Barstool, minus all their risky speech and social posts. But it turns out the two were inseparable.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Now, ironically, the outspokenness is politically opposite between those two brands, isn't it, Jack? Ben & Jerry's is more progressive, while Barstool is more conservative. But the outcome of their acquisitions was the same. The parent company now wants to sell them because of too much brand risk. Dave Portnoy bought back Barstool, and now Ben & Jerry are trying to buy back Ben & Jerry's.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
So we never thought we'd see it and we never thought we'd say it. But Ben and Jerry's acquisition didn't work for the same reason Barstools didn't work.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
For our third and final story, the biggest event of the week, one of the biggest of the year, the Super Bowl of AI, hosted by NVIDIA. Because NVIDIA's computer chips have become the new Barbie dolls. Yeti, 16 years ago, NVIDIA, the computer chip company, hosted their first GPU tech conference in Silicon Valley. Nerd alert. Nerd alert. That was back in 2009.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Computer chips, yeah, they weren't that cool. If you said GPU out loud, you'd get stuffed in the gym locker room. Now that first NVIDIA event, it really felt like a science fair 16 years ago. But this year, it feels like some kind of a sporting event. Because this week, NVIDIA turned their chip conference into the self-described Super Bowl of AI.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
The city of San Jose, California has been covered in green and black NVIDIA flags all week. 25,000 attendees. Hotel prices hit 2,000 bucks a night down in San Jose. And it really has felt like the Super Bowl because there were ticket scalpers. That many people wanted to get in to see Jensen Huang speak. There were even tailgates.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
The most viral show on TV right now is Severance. Severance, the Severance season finale. It is tonight. Severance is a sci-fi dramedy directed by Ben Stiller about work-life separation. Literally, your brain is split into two. One part for your work, one part for your life. Your innie only experiences work life. While your outie only experiences life outside of work.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
Denny's set up food trucks like it was Giant Stadium outside the artificial intelligence event. And that Denny's cameo was a nod to Jensen, who came up with the idea for his company over a Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's. Yeah, he is the CEO of NVIDIA. He wore leather to the event, and he's basically become the Taylor Swift of CPUs.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
We thought at the end of the event, he would pull a Gronk and spike one of his $40,000 chips on the turf like a football.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
So very high expectations NVIDIA set for themselves. Again, they called it the Super Bowl of AI. But for all those stakes, we got to say, they delivered. Because NVIDIA involved consumer businesses in a way that would make Chris Collingsworth cry. Hmm. You like what I did there, Jack? You barely landed that.
The Best One Yet
🧠“Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.
So the first thing NVIDIA did was they shockingly partnered with Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC. NVIDIA is going to power the drive-thru of all Yum! Brands restaurants. NVIDIA chips are going to optimize all the operations at these fast food chains so a human doesn't mess up your chalupa order. Then NVIDIA announced another partnership with General Motors, the car company. NVIDIA