Nick Martell
Appearances
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, ceviche Wednesday, March 26th. 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, I got the results. You ready for these, man? What results? Okay, we asked the Eddies if they or a friend were going boy sober this year. You want to know the answer? Yeah.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Yeah, yeah. Infinite Reality. They're a metaverse company that plans to create virtual concerts under the Napster name. The new owner says this Napster will be clubhouse times a trillion, which sounds about right. But yet he's Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and we got even more shocked. Because this is the fifth time Napster has been acquired since declaring bankruptcy. That's right.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Napster's got more comebacks than a boy band. It's like NSYNC. They're past their prime, but they're still touring. Because in 2008, Best Buy acquired Napster to boost their CD sales, and then they sold it a few years later. They sold it to Rhapsody, a legal music streamer. Then in 2022, a blockchain company acquired Napster, and now a metaverse company is buying it from them.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
And why is this latest acquisition happening? Well, the CEO said this about the deal. He said, there is no better name associated with disruption than Napster. So Napster is being acquired for reasons unrelated to music. They're being acquired because the brand represents rebellion. More than any other brand. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Napster?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
To quote Destiny's Child, say my name, say my name. That's 90% of the work. Ladies, in politics, the incumbent, the candidate in office, wins 90% of the time simply because of name recognition. Especially in down ballot or local elections, you simply vote for the name that you recognize. Well, interestingly, data shows that consumers behave the same way.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
90% of consumers buy from a brand that they recognize. So this metaverse company, Infinite Reality, they could have spent $200 million on a big brand awareness campaign. They could have dropped all that money on billboards, ads, to introduce you to their new name, Infinite Reality, so you wouldn't hopefully forget it. Or...
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Besties, if your blonde body starts turning brunette, that is a big economic issue. Let me sprinkle on some context. I'd love that, Jack. During the 2008 financial crisis, a new concept arose. It was called recession hair. Oh. But wait, times were tough, so you skipped out on that $300 haircut. In the 2008-2009 recession, women had longer hair, and that reflected their financial worries.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
They could spend $207 million to buy a name that people instantly recognize already and are curious about. I mean, Jack, those two options cost the same, but the Napster route guarantees a name recognition win. Napster has been acquired five times since going bankrupt. That's insane. Because name recognition is 90% of the battle. Say my name. Say my name.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Jack, could you please whip up the takeaways for us for Ceviche Wednesday? StubHub is going public soon by listing their stock on the New York Stock Exchange. But if scalpers go away, so does a big part of StubHub's business. For our second story, 23andMe is now bankrupt after suffering from the Macarena problem. They were a one-hit wonder. So what about our DNA?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Well, it'll be sold to the highest bidder, so delete it now. There's step-by-step instructions online, by the way. And finally, Napster has been bought by a Metaverse company. It's the fifth new owner of Napster since its bankruptcy. Say my name, say my name. Name recognition is 90% of the battle. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
First, the texting error known as Signalgate dominated the news cycle on Tuesday. A Trump national security advisor accidentally included a journalist into a text chain that was discussing military attacks on the Houthi rebels. Now, Trump wasn't on the Signal chat, but everyone else in his cabinet was, plus a journalist from The Atlantic. That's who was added by mistake. The only winner here...
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
is Signal, which is getting unbelievable free advertising in the form of this scandal. And second, update on the eggflation situation. Get this, egg confiscations at the borders have doubled in the last year. Here's the story. People are going up to Canada, buying eggs, and then smuggling them back into the United States to eat for breakfast.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
And then they're telling border control, we don't have any eggs. So border control has seized 3,254 illegal egg crossings. Needless to say, that's a record number of egg crossings, of illegal border crossings. Canada, they got a different agricultural system, so their birds have been less vulnerable to the bird flu. Timmy Hortons is laughing at Dunkin' Donuts right now.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
And finally, Waymo is launching in DC in 2026. The capital is getting robo-taxis. When Waymo comes to town, that becomes a tourist attraction. Yeah, it's in five cities right now. Atlanta and DC are coming soon. Reminder, we recorded the first ever podcast episode. recorded in a robo-driving Waymo. We don't know how Waymo feels about that, but they haven't responded to our request for comments.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
I think they liked our post. Check out the video on YouTube. It's got over 100,000 views right now, Jack. Worth watching, Yetis. Now time for the best fact yet. This one is a question asked by Jack and I. We have a question for you. Yeah, we do. And we want your honest opinion on this. Okay, so besties, you may have received an email from us in the last few weeks called the Pop Biz News Club.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
We're planning to shift the Pop Biz News Club from emails to a community. So we want to know from you, what platform should we use for our new T-Boy listener community? Now, more details are to come because this is a club. But in the meantime, leave us a comment right here, wherever you're listening. What is your preferred platform if you were to be a part of a T-Boy community?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Is it Slack, Reddit, Microsoft Teams, or Discord? That's what we want to know from you. Slack, Reddit, Teams, Discord, or another option that we haven't even heard of. Let us know in the comments. Signal. Apparently signal is where we should do it. Could be signal. Yeah. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, you are looking fantastic as well. I mean, one second. My baklava is ready.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Ipso facto, that was recession hair. But the newest trend is more specific. And what is that trend, Jack? Recession roots. Follow us on this one, besties. If money is tight, you're now postponing your hair coloring appointment. Because that toner's $200. That balayage is 350 bucks. And that is why your brown-haired buddy might not get her hair bleached in this economy.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
I go crazy for this stuff. You know the ski mask, a balaclava? I always call that a baklava by accident. Does that make me 0% Turkish? No, but it does offend me and my people, Jack. Besties, the best thing you can do today to support the show is drop down, follow us, give us a five-star rating and review. We love reading all of them. Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
If you know, you know. And before we go, a happy 30th birthday to Yeti Dan Zuber celebrating in the Mile High City of Denver. Happy birthday to Josh Menez in Reno, Nevada, who's visiting family right now in New York. And Jackson Kennes in Berlin, Massachusetts, is killing the third grade math test. Just outside the bar.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
And happy birthday to Montano Ortiz in Anaheim, California, who's retiring soon and has been a legendary director of engineering for the Viv Hotel in Anaheim. Five stars. And Arvin Parco down in Phoenix, Arizona, is a new T-ball coach celebrating the best birthday yet. And a big shout out to some boy sober yetis out there.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Melissa Mendez, Lisa Welch, Anastasia Rose, and Michelle, some legendary boy sober besties. Thanks for jumping into the Instagram and Spotify comments. We love hearing what you think. And besties, if you want to get a shout out on this show, or if you've got the best fact yet, we've got a form in the episode description or go to tboypod.com slash shout outs.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
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
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Stocks are down, roots are up. Egg prices are high, your natural hair color is too. Besties, if your blonde friend shows up at brunch looking a little more brunette than usual, don't ask Rachie about her portfolio. Yeah, in fact, you should cover the tab. Yeah, that's recession brunette. It's a leading economic indicator.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
To all of those formerly blonde besties out there, we hope the stock market goes up.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
57% are currently or going boy sober. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. That's a big number right there. Single and not looking to be single. So Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got on the T-boy? For our first story, StubHub could be the biggest consumer brand to IPO this year. So we're diving in T-boy style to their business. The biggest risk to StubHub's IPO? It's scalpers.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
For our first story, StubHub, or as Jack and I call it, Stubby Hubby, has filed to IPO. So we jumped into the IPO paperwork to break down the business for you. StubHub's future depends on ticketing bots and scalpers in a way that will surprise you. But yet he's in order to tell the story of the StubHub ticketing service. Let's go back to 1999. Jack, pre.com bubble, what was the scene?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
A Stanford business school student needed tickets to Lion King on Broadway, but the theater was sold out. Yeah, Hakuna Matata. Not Hakuna Matata, apparently. The guy thought to himself, there must be someone who bought a ticket that doesn't want to go anymore. Timon, Pumbaa, can anyone spare a ticket out there?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
But back then, the only option to find a ticket on the secondary market was to stand like a bum outside the theater and tell everyone walking past, I'm looking for tickets. I'm looking for tickets. Everyone in Times Square thinks you're selling drugs or actually just trying to buy a ticket to a Moo musical. So that guy created StubHub, an online secondary marketplace for tickets.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
He sold that business to eBay in 2007 for $310 million. StubHub's not part of eBay anymore. It was actually bought back by that same founder who needed the Lion King tickets, and now he's taking StubHub public. So pretty soon, StubHub will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticket symbol STUB. Stub. And they're hoping for a $16 billion valuation.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Which is three lifts, and which is huge, because Jack, what are StubHub's financials right now? They profited in 2023, but had a small loss in 2024 on nearly $2 billion of annual revenue. So besties, Jack and I punched our tickets and we read the S1 IPO paperwork on StubHub and we'll present to you the good and the bad of this ticketing business.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
First, a reason to get excited as a potential shareholder. Yeah, Jack. Gen Z is spending so much money on concert tickets. Get this, Gen Z is dropping nearly three times as much on tickets as Gen X did 30 years ago. The last few years have set records for live events and concerts in America. You're dropping $2,000 just to see Taylor Swift from the very top row.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
There was pent-up demand to party post-pandemic, and that demand has not stopped. Now most tickets are sold initially by Ticketmaster, which has a monopoly on that primary market for tickets. Ticketmaster is owned by Live Nation, whose stock is at an all-time high. But tickets are then resold on the secondary market by a service like StubHub.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
And just like Ticketmaster, StubHub takes fees as the middleman. And since the price of all those tickets to those Celine Dion concerts has soared, people are actually going into debt just to see Dua Lipa live. Here's the numbers. In 1996, the average ticket price to see a Top 100 concert was $52 adjusted for inflation. But Jack, how much am I spending to see like Blue Man Group in 2024?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
$135 on average. Yeah. The price to see a top 100 concert has nearly tripled since 1996. Add it all up and more spending on tickets is more money for StubHub because StubHub makes a percentage through the fees. Their business model is a theocracy. But besties, before we go any further, there is one hero stat that shocked us in their IPO paperwork.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
StubHub said that fans bought 40 million tickets on their platform last year from 1 million different sellers. Okay, Jack, could you do the simple math on that number for us, please? 40 million tickets were bought. by one million sellers. That means the average seller sold 40 tickets last year on StubHub. I don't know anyone who sold three sets of tickets. Who has sold 40 tickets in a year?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
For reasons you wouldn't expect. For our second story, 23andMe just filed for bankruptcy. So we're answering the number one question everyone is asking. Oh, what the heck is happening to my DNA? And our third and final story, Napster, the Y2K music pirating platform, just sold for $207 million? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is not the worst fact-checked headline you've ever heard.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Not regular people like you and me, Nick. No. They must be professional ticket resellers, aka scalpers. And that leads to the company's biggest risk, which happens to be our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies punching tickets over at StubHub? No scalpers, no StubHub.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Yeti's live events as an industry is plagued by scalpers, people who buy tickets in bulk and then resell them at a huge markup. These people are like hackers. Yeah. They use bots to snag tickets before the fans can and then sell those tickets only at a ransom price. I like how you said it. These people. I mean, who likes scalpers? Nobody does.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Well, where do these scalpers turn to sell their tickets? They typically turn to StubHub, and the StubHub business model depends on them. So the biggest risk we see to StubHub's business is if scalpers go away. True. Which, guess what, is actually happening right now.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Yeah, for example, Ticketmaster now has dynamic pricing, pricing their tickets in the primary market at an optimal way so that scalpers can't make as much profit. Ticketmaster is basically helping artists stop underpricing their tickets so that scalpers have no arbitrage that they can profit off. Another way scalpers are getting threatened? Rules and regulations. Just look at the band Oasis.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Oasis has a huge reunion tour happening this year, and they have banned scalping effectively by invalidating any tickets that were sold higher than face value. So it's kind of ironic, but if scalpers get squashed, a big part of StubHub's business just goes away. No scalpers, no StubHub. For our second story, 23andMe filed for bankruptcy on Monday. The stock of this DNA icon is close to zero.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
But the biggest question right now, what happens to the DNA samples of the 15 million customers? What the heck happens to my DNA, man? Are they getting thrown into the dumpster? I don't even want to talk about it. We'll get to the answer in a second. But Yeti is the coolest party to get invited to before the pandemic. It was the spit party, wasn't it, Chad?
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Sounds inappropriate, but it was kind of a fun thing to attend. Spit parties, it was actually a marketing concept from 23andMe. You basically get together and hock Tua into a tube and then send your saliva over to some lab to get tested for your ancestry. Essentially, this was genetic roulette. Are you 4% Finnish, French, or Fijian? We all have some surprise ancestry thing we didn't know about.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
It's great cocktail conversation. There's actually no better growth hack than turning a product into a party, by the way. Honey, I'm Icelandic. Fun fact, full disclosure, this is Nick, and I'm actually 0% to 4% Turkish. Did you know that, Jack? That's such a great... I love that zero is included in the range.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
I don't know what the margin for error is, but I do know I've always had an affinity for kebabs, and now I understand why, finally. In 2017, 23andMe was one of Oprah's favorite things. In 2018, Time named it the product of the year. And in 2021, 23andMe went public via a SPAC, hitting a $6 billion valuation. But unfortunately, 23andMe never turned a profit.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
The stock is now down 99.8% from its all-time high. The CEO and co-founder, Ann Wojcicki, tried to take the company private, but she failed. So she resigned on Monday as the company declared bankruptcy. But besties, this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We did a 23andMe autopsy and all signs point to one cause of death. It suffered from the Macarena problem. Yeah.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
It was a one-hit wonder. Yeah, here's the situation, yetis. Once you get an ancestry test for 99 bucks, you didn't end up buying anything else from that company. They hoped you would subscribe so you could get ongoing health reports based on your DNA. But nobody did that. Now, 23andMe did find a new revenue stream, didn't they, Jack? They had a new idea.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
It is a true story. We'll tell you why Napster is still... worth $200 million using a song from Destiny's Child. If you know, you know. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What? A mix? I love the mix today, Jack. Everyone has one big question about the economy right now. Are we entering a recession? Nick and I looked at the data. We're not in a recession yet.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
They sold anonymized DNA data sets to pharmaceutical companies so the drug companies could develop new medicines. But unfortunately, that new concept disappointed too. So, like the Macarena, 23andMe was a one, Maca two, Maca three, Maca one-hit wonder. Side note, by the way, 23andMe got hacked in 2023, and the hackers got access to the personal information of 7 million people.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Okay, concerning side note on that side note, that hacker targeted Chinese and Jewish customers of 23andMe specifically. So clearly the bad guys want our DNA. Yeah. And the company protecting us from those bad guys just went bankrupt. Which leaves 15 million humans wondering right now, is my DNA vulnerable? Unlike your Gmail password, you can't reset your DNA. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Like your chromosomes are your chromosomes. You can't mess with those guys right there. So people are worried, which leads to our takeaway. Yes. So Jack, as we say in Turkish, what's the guttermik for our buddies over at 23andMe? In bankruptcy, the assets go to the highest bidder. So, yetis, what happens to 23andMe's customer DNA data? Well, it will be bought by someone.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
In bankruptcy, the company surrenders itself to the courts, and then a judge decides what happens to all the stuff that the company owns. And the goal of that judge? Get whoever is owed money from 23andMe repaid. And so that judge will sell 23andMe to the highest bidder.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Now, 23andMe tried to assure the public this week that the buyer, whoever it is, will have to honor applicable laws surrounding customer data and privacy. 23andMe also said they're looking for buyers who share their commitment to privacy. But if the highest bidder does not share their commitment to privacy... Which is possible. They'll probably have to sell to that company anyway.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Yeah, because remember, the goal is to get the debtors repaid. It's not to protect your customer privacy. And that is why the Attorney General of the State of California is telling customers this week... delete your data now. Log into 23andMe and figure out how to delete your data.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
So in Jackson, my lifetimes of studying and seeing bankruptcy proceedings, basically don't take your chances with whoever buys 23andMe. You may as well delete your data now. Because in bankruptcy, the assets go to the highest bidder, whoever that highest bidder is.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
For our third and final story, Napster, the OG disruptor of music 25 years ago, was just sold for $207 million? We were shocked that Napster was even still around. Yeah, we really were. But we were more shocked it's been acquired five times. Yetis, let's go back to 1999. Jack, set the scene for us, please.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
the economy is still growing. But if we were to have a recession, Jack and I have one place we would look, and that place is your hair. Specifically, your girlfriend's hair. Because the ultimate economic indicator, yetis, it's something called recession blondes. Actually, the term is recession brunettes. Good fact check on that one, Jack. We'll explain.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
You logged on to your gateway computer, you signed into your AOL account, and then you downloaded that new 98 Degrees album so you could burn it onto a CD. Just because you wanted to impress a girl. Yeah, you could listen to I Do Cherish You for free, and that was because of Napster. Launched in 1999, Napster made it insanely easy to steal music consequence-free.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Well, Napster got up to 20 million users for that service before Wi-Fi even existed. It was founded by Sean Fanning and Sean Parker, the latter of whom became the president of Facebook with Zuckerberg. That guy in the Social Network movie who asked Zuckerberg to change the name from The Facebook? That's him, Sean Parker. Timberlake played the guy who founded Napster.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Now, it took record labels a couple of years to catch up, but eventually they sued Napster into oblivion. Dr. Dre was pissed. I don't think any company has been sued more aggressively, more violently than Napster was back then. Sore topic, don't bring it up with Metallica. So Napster went bankrupt in 2001. They changed music forever, but they never became a verb.
The Best One Yet
đď¸ âInside StubHubâ â The Ticket IPO. Napsterâs $200M comeback. 23&Meâs DNA drama.
Napster was gone less than three years after it was created. But here's the shocking news, yetis. To quote Eminem, Napster's back. Tell a friend. Napster was just acquired this week for $207 million. Okay, Jack and I had to double, triple, quadruple check, but it's true. So Jack, I got to ask, who is buying Napster 23 years after the brand fell off the stage? A metaverse company. That's who.
The Best One Yet
𩳠âNike + Skimsâ â Nikeâs deal with Kim Kardashian. Protectorâs bodyguard app. Fire Trucks' oligopoly.
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, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday. Salute you. Wednesday, January 15th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This, out of all the pods, is a tea boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Well, happy fourth quarter earnings season to all those who celebrate. We celebrate. We do. We do. I got you a little gift. It's... profits.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Like we said, Planet Fitness' stock is at an all-time high, and yeah, it may be juicing. Actually, the P-test Planet Fitness is worried about most is our people using Ozempic. That's an existential threat for this brand. Good point, Jack. You could go and do 500 sit-ups, or you could get a prescription from your doctor. For $500.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
But there's actually a greater risk than just prices facing Planet Fitness, and that risk... is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at three and four? Planet Fitness. If everyone comes to Planet Fitness, the business actually breaks. Funny thing, Yetis, but having too many members more than they can handle, that's actually part of Planet Fitness's whole business model.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Brown was reading the book, Inner Excellence, on the bench. We repeat, he was not reading the playbook. He was reading a self-help book during the game. The book was Inner Excellence, and it was self-published by a man named Jim Murphy. And this wide receiver on the Eagles says that reading the book gives him an inner peace, so he whips it out during every NFL game. Absolutely.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
15 bucks a month is so low that they must sell lots of memberships to be profitable. Yeah. It's a low price, high volume business model. But interesting thing, Planet Fitness factors in the fact that 80% of January gym goers will quit within three months. That's the average. Planet Fitness can afford to set the price so low because they know so many of us don't actually show up to the gyms.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
It's kind of a magical price, Jack, because it's just enough to feel like you did something, but not enough to care if you don't do that thing. Nobody's in a rush to cancel their Planet Fitness before it hits their credit card statement. Honestly, it's actually the same business model as airplanes that oversell seats. You know, they factor in a percentage that's not going to make the flight.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
But if every Planet Fitness member did show up to the gym one day, there would be a line out the door and around the block waiting to use those dumbbells. It's actually a funny insight into Planet Fitness' whole business model. If everyone uses it, then the whole business breaks. Banks fear that there's going to be a run on the bank one day. Gyms fear there's going to be a run on the gym one day.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Besties, the greatest risk to Planet Fitness, it's that you actually use the product. If you're a regular gym goer and you can't stand these New Year's resolution newbies in the gym, leave us a comment about what you think about them. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for Savice Wednesday? Starbucks is trying to save the third place by ending their open doors bathroom policy.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Because without premium stores, you can't charge premium prices. For our second story, some landlords in Los Angeles are responding to the fires by jacking up rents. So we hope one legacy of these fires is to cut red tape so that LA can rebuild faster. Cut red tape. Baby cut. And our third and final story is Planet Fitness.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
They're bringing in record revenues this January with 50% higher membership prices. But remember, if everyone shows up at the same time, then the bench press actually breaks. Literally. They don't have enough benches. Not expecting it. They want two of you to show up. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, big news for our buddies over at the big banks.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Bonus update. According to Bloomberg, the average bonus on Wall Street is expected to rise 10% this year. With the Trump administration, there are big expectations there will be more deals, so they want to give you a little payday ahead of time. And we'll get more details as big bank earnings kick off this week.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And second, Spain wants to introduce the biggest real estate tax that we have ever seen. Get this, a 100% tax on non-EU homebuyers. If foreigners want to buy a home in Barcelona, the tax they'd pay on buying that home is the same as the price of the home itself. That is a 100% tax. Remember, tourists were being sprayed with squirt guns last summer.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Like, there's a lot of tourist situation going on. It's all part of the backlash against investors and Airbnbs. who are hurting the housing supply. And eating all the tapas. And finally, the stubbornest part of inflation, it's still being stubborn. It's egg prices. Egg prices just hit a new all-time high. They're up 40% compared to last year. In fact, eggs are up 25% in the last two months.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
The average price of a dozen eggs in California is $8. Or if you go to a farmer's market, $50. Blame it on the bird flu. The scary thing I keep seeing headlines about, but I'm too afraid to read the details. Bird flu, it's creating a frittata fiasco. Oh, my omelet. Eggflation situation. Now time for the best fact yet.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
This one sent in by legendary Yeti Savannah Westwood from lovely Orlando, Florida. Nick, what's a polysemy? Jack, I'm so glad you asked because I had to look it up in the dictionary. It is a word that, according to the dictionary, has multiple definitions in the dictionary. For example, the English word set... It has the most meanings of any word in the English language. Like, think about this.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
After the touchdown celebration, what's he doing? He rereads chapter three. After he fumbles? He rereads the epigraph. You can see him with the book on TV. It was incredible free marketing for this publishing house. Jack, he's marked up the book like it's required school reading. I think I saw a book tab in there. And here's the wildest part.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
A set could be a collection of items, a television, it's something in tennis, it's something you do at the gym. Oh, like three sets of five reps? That's another definition, Jack. Like, I just did 500 reps. And according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word set has over 430 distinct definitions. Making it the most versatile word in the English language.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Although, Jack, now that I think about it, your and my names are also both verbs. We're kind of polysemies too. There's actually a nick on my table I just made. I'm kind of annoyed by it. That's so funny, Jack, because when I was on the bench press, I was getting jacked. Yetis, you look fantastic over there.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And remember, if you want to channel your inner excellence today, tell your buddies to listen to today's show, HYHDBOI. Have you had the best one yet? Apparently, you'll beat the Green Bay Packers if you do. If you do, you will be better than an NFL player. Jack and I will see you and your buddies tomorrow.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary engineer William Nutt down in lovely North Carolina. The Dash. The Dash. And Terrence Ogby in Jersey City, New Jersey, is crushing it as a dad with a birthday just outside Manhattan. Happy birthday to Will Shane in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And Tara Whitmore over in Charlotte, North Carolina, is celebrating the best birthday yet.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Happy birthday to Wynn Jones, who's celebrating a birthday somewhere fantastic. Probably in Rio. And Aconcha is turning 40 years old over in the Bay Area. Happy birthday, Aconcha. Happy birthday to Alma Madrigal in Montclair, California, just outside Boston. A little far, but still outside. And Lindsey Drager in New York City.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Her brother can't wait to ski with her in Colorado because they're going to be celebrating a T-boy birthday. And welcome to this world to the beautiful Declan Bernards in Portland, Oregon. And a huge shout out to his mom, Stephanie, after 72 hours of labor. What a legend. Celebrate that epic win. This is Jack. I own stock in Amazon. Nick owns stock in Nike.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And we both own stock in Zillow and Peloton. 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
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
This book was number 552,709 on Amazon's bestsellers list before the game. Okay, but Jack, after the game? Number one on Amazon. It became a top seller. This book was seen on TV during a football game. Now it's the best selling book on all of Amazon. Apparently AJ Brown is the new Reese Witherspoon because he's curating like the book you gotta read. Oprah's favorite thing.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Why receiver's favorite thing, Jack? So yetis, we wanted to read you an excerpt from Inner Excellence to help you achieve performance today. All right, here we go, Jack. Here we go. When you're fully present, you don't need to worry about the future or the past. In that moment, you're free to bring your best to act with purpose.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
The future will take care of itself if you learn to master the present. Okay, yetis. Now you're going to catch a touchdown pass today. Jack, I feel innerly excellent, baby. Let's sit on three stories.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got on the T-Bone? For our first story, Starbucks is making a symbolically important policy reversal. No more free bathrooms because Starbucks' third place is the first place that needs to be saved. For our second story, with fire still burning in Los Angeles, greedy landlords are jacking up rents as high as 100%.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
For our first story, after seven years, Starbucks is ending its open doors policy. Bathrooms are for paying customers only. Sorry. This story shows many things, including the error of overcorrection. Jack, honestly, it's one of the great terms in business. The third place. The third place. Starbucks' longtime CEO, Howard Schultz, wanted Starbucks to become the third place. place.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
It's a place between work and between home where you could just hang out, be yourself. Everybody knows your name, Jack. You could write the next great American novel. Yeah. Or you could strike up a conversation with the cutie sipping that latte. And never have to pay a dime to buy anything there. There's one dude who loved the third place so much, he's actually been to 20,000 Starbucks locations.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
True story, this guy's been to 20,000. They spelled his name wrong on every single coffee cup, but he still visited all 20,000 of them. The third place, you get free Wi-Fi, free bathrooms, cozy couches, and that Coffee Shop Fives playlist on Spotify we've all listened to, it's on repeat. You could brush your teeth there. I've done it too, but Jack, it was before a big meeting.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
We had a big meeting. Dude, I love public brushing of my teeth. I keep a toothbrush and toothpaste in my man bag every day. No, I've seen you. I've seen it. It's intense. It's impressive.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
I'm not sure it's socially appropriate, but- It's a story for another pod. But back in 2018, Starbucks put a legal definition on that hazy term, third place. They had to, because they were kind of in a crisis. Yeah, here's the context, Yeti. Starbucks was criticized when two black men were arrested in Philadelphia and the barista had kicked them out of a Starbucks for loitering.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
So Starbucks brought clarity on who can and who can't use the third place. They announced that anyone can use a Starbucks cafe or bathroom even if they're not paying customers. But here's the news. Seven years later, that experiment is over. Basically, Starbucks just announced, no more Mr. Nice Guy.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
If you want to write the next great American novel, you're going to have to do it in the comfort of your own home. Or by a venti first. Now, yetis, here's the goal of this new Starbucks policy. What is it, Jack? Starbucks says they need to reset expectations for how our spaces should be used and who uses them.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Because the reality is that Starbucks' generosity on anyone using the bathrooms kind of backfired on them. Starbucks locations have become inundated with people just using it for cell phone charging and for the free bathrooms. And now we should point out that vision of anyone using the Starbucks bathroom, it was a noble policy, a noble open doors policy.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
But no single private company should be expected to provide basic human services like that to the non-paying public. Right. We do have someone who does provide that, and that would be... The government or nonprofits. Or Jack and I are also thinking maybe this Starbucks switcheroo, it shows that there's a business opportunity here.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
There could be a chain of paying customer only bathrooms and showers in big cities. We've got a coffee chain Starbucks. Why not have a bathroom chain called Star Bats? You pay $2, Jack. You could brush your teeth in there. It'd probably be a lot more fun. Either way, Starbucks attempted to serve everyone by letting anyone in, and it's resulted in the deterioration of their business.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
But yetis, this fire also presents a historic opportunity to fix California's housing market. Not Bill Baby Bill. No. Cut Baby Cut. Cut Baby Cut. And our third and final story. Because of your New Year's resolution, Planet Fitness stock is at an all-time high. But funny thing, Planet Fitness' greatest risk is that you actually show up. Their greatest risk is a run on the gym.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Starbucks sales have shrank for three straight quarters. So here are the new rules. You must be a paying customer to be in a Starbucks. And baristas, they're ordered to call the police if they think someone's loitering. I mean, Jack, it kind of looks like the pendulum is swinging back in the totally other direction. Starbucks overcracked it in 2018. But our takeaway is right on point.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Starbucks? Without premium stores, you can't charge premium prices. Yetis, Starbucks has 40 million app users. They've become great for digital orders, but they've become terrible in person. As Starbucks has optimized phone orders for their grab-and-go business, the third place of Starbucks has suffered.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Well, we now know the new CEO Brian Nichols' turnaround plan, and it's got a real focus. The focus is the stores. Brian Nichols is prioritizing the in-person experience. He's bringing back the comfy seats and the porcelain mugs for when you want to have a coffee in a Starbucks. Even if all this means lower sales in the short term, he's still willing to do it.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
It's like Starbucks spent the last couple of decades too focused on the phone. They got addicted to the digital side of their business. Yeah, like all of us. They got addicted to their screens. Yeah, they got too focused on the screens and not what was happening right in front of them. The reality is that Starbucks has lost its brand as being a premium place to get a coffee.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
But we think this story could have a silver lining. Now, Yetis, yesterday on this show, we shouted out some companies and organizations helping people during the LA wildfires. There are a few gray ones out there. The LA fires are still burning. The Palisades fire is only 11% contained. 100,000 Angelenos have been displaced from their homes.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
It is so nice to see so many people trying to help, but there is one group we found that is doing the opposite at the worst possible time. And the credit goes to Jason Oppenheim, famous realtor from the TV show Selling Sunsets. Selling Sunset. I went on a binge on that two summers ago, Jack. Honestly, before you know it, you've gone through like three seasons at once.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Because of Jason Oppenheim, the celebrity realtor and his brother, who are famous for the Netflix reality real estate drama, Selling Sunset. And right now, they're not battling over who's getting the commission on that oceanside property. They're calling out greedy landlords. Jason Oppenheim says that landlords are taking advantage of this natural disaster to jack up rents across the city.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And here's the wildest part. We got the receipts on those greedy landlords. Now, first, let's provide some context. Let's sprinkle it on. What do we got, Jack? Last year, the city of Los Angeles issued permits for 10,000 new housing units. Yeah, Los Angeles was adding to its housing supply. But in just the last week, the city lost the same number of homes because of these awful wildfires.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
We repeat, these fires have already wiped out all of 2024's new housing supply. That means the Los Angeles fires are going to exacerbate the already brutal housing crisis in Los Angeles. Well, besties, get this. With fires still burning, greedy Los Angeles landlords are jacking up prices already. One Oppenheim client was looking to rent a house for $13,000 a month.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Pretty expensive house, but not crazy in Los Angeles, actually. And that was the price last month when they were looking. Well, now the landlord is asking for 23 grand. That's almost a 100% increase in the price. And it's not just these reality stars noticing this. If you go on Zillow right now, you can see this happening for yourself. Because Zillow tracks price changes.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
So there's a whole bunch of apartments that were listed for one price in December. But this week, they're listed for like 50% more. We just looked at one, which is in Santa Monica right now. It's up 50% in just the last two weeks. That's the price change. California law says it's illegal to price gouge during an emergency. That's right. Good point, Jack.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Dirty little secret about Planet Fitness. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories. Love the mix, Jack. How is your inner excellence? Jack, have you achieved inner excellence today? Because yet he's over the weekend. You may have watched the Eagles versus the Packers in an NFL playoff game.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
The price may not increase by more than 10% from pre-disaster levels. But landlords know that there are people whose houses burned and they are willing to pay to get any sense of normalcy back like immediately. So landlords are breaking the law to jack up their short-term profits at the expense of people whose houses burned. And it took a selling sunset reality star to notice it.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Oh, and those who can't afford those home prices, they're going to have to wait to rebuild their homes, which could take years. Unless... our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the housing market? A positive legacy of these fires could be less red tape in housing. Yeti's never let a tragedy go to waste.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And honestly, there is still an opportunity right now to fix the housing crisis. We've said many times our country needs more houses. We've said many times, build, baby, build. We said build, baby, build. Well, the new solution after these fires is cut, baby, cut, as in cut red tape. One of the biggest challenges in housing across the country is
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
is regulations that have made building new homes a lot harder. Oh, maybe you face this. We're talking permits, fees, bureaucracy. All that is red tape that causes building costs and building times to soar. Unless you're a builder, you probably haven't noticed that red tape. But if you're a buyer of a home, you've noticed it because houses are so much more expensive. Yeah.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Now, some red tape ensures safety and quality housing. You got to have a little bit of red tape. But too much red tape, builders don't even bother to build. So Jack and I hope that one opportunity in this tragedy is that the government eliminates some real estate red tape. Angelenos urgently need to rebuild. That's why this is a historic opportunity to cut red tape. Cut, baby, cut.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And if you watch that game, you may have noticed the Eagles receiver, A.J. Brown, didn't catch a ball, but he caught a book. Well, he did catch some balls, but he definitely read a book and that went viral. He read a book. That book was inner excellence. It went viral over the weekend because it was spotted on the Eagles sidelines. Right. Mid-game. All-pro receiver A.J.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
And one, and two, and for our third story, Planet Fitness stock hit an all-time high this week, just as you head back to the gym. Okay, Ron Burgundy, you should have said 1,001, 1,002. My first reps, my warm-up reps, Jack. We want to tell you yet, he's the dirty little secret about Planet Fitness's business model. Oh, yetis, Jack and I have told you about Planuary.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
We plan the whole year in January as part of our New Year's resolution. Yeah, that's what we do. But the number one most popular New Year's resolution for the rest of America, dieting, working out. Basically, you want to have biceps by beach season. That's the resolution. That's why January is the biggest month for gyms. Memberships pop 50% in the first two weeks of every year.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Well, perfect timing, Jack, because Planet Fitness' stock hit an all-time high this week. In fact, Planet Fitness, since the CEO left, has seen their stock rise 125%. Nobody has put up those kinds of weights before. They need a spotter. And Planet Fitness plans to now double its size to over 5,000 clubs just in the US. This New Hampshire-based company is enormous right now. Get this, besties.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
The number one fitness app in the app store right now? Jack, what is it? It's not Nike or Peloton. It's Planet Fitness. fitness. Someone give Planet Fitness a pee test. These guys are juicing over there. But we haven't even told you the wildest, most unholy thing that Planet Fitness did in these past two weeks. This is what we found fascinating about this story.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
Planet Fitness messed with its holiest number, and that is unholy. If there's one thing you know about Planet Fitness, it's that memberships start at just 10 bucks a month. They're the lowest price in fitness by far. I think the YMCA costs more than Planet Fitness. Our podcast is free and it costs more than the Planet Fitness. For 33 years, $10 a month.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
That's all you've heard about Planet Fitness in the ads, in the marketing, in the signs, even on the membership cards. It was like the Subway $5 footlong. We called it a sacred cow price because it protects the profit puppy. Like Costco has the $1.50 hot dog combo and- Planet Fitness has the $10 gym. But this year, for the first time since 1992, they jacked that price up.
The Best One Yet
đ˝ âLattes & Lavatoriesâ â Starbucksâ policy pivot. LAâs greedy landlords. Planet Fitnessâs biggest risk.
In fact, they increased the membership price to $15 a month, which is a 50% increase. Now, that is a huge, huge risk. Planet Fitness built their entire brand on $10 a month. So now they're breaking that psychological barrier for new members? And Jack, what were the results? So far, seems things are going well. There's no mass revolt against Planet Fitness.
The Best One Yet
đââď¸ âBoy Soberâ â The No-Marriage Economy. Arizonaâs Crazy Rich Asians. Snow White & The 7 Debacles.
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, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.
The Best One Yet
Exclusive đŚ âEducation Super Appâ â Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn announces next product on TBOY
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, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show.
The Best One Yet
Exclusive đŚ âEducation Super Appâ â Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn announces next product on TBOY
Right.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Tuesday, T-Boy Tuesday, April 8th, 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. Oh man, I picked a bad week for this colonoscopy, Jack. It's Thursday, right? I know. I think the stock market's getting a colonoscopy right now.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Yeah, just to bring out some context here, Ford isn't in the charity business, are they, up in Detroit, Jack? They're a profit-maximizing company.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
So we found the real reason they're offering employee pricing for all. Interestingly, the main reason Ford is doing the first trade war discount... is because you're afraid. People are afraid. Yeah, you're afraid. Last month, consumer confidence hit the lowest level since the pandemic. That's right.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And after Trump's liquidation day, I mean liberation day, consumers are hiding in the basement right now. And that's a problem for Ford. Yeah, it is. Because people don't buy cars when they're economically worried. Yetis, let this sink in for a sec. You're not putting a big bow on a Lexus for Mother's Day if your 401k is freaking out.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
I've had a lot of Peeps, Jack. For years, Peeps were actually handmade by a group of old German women in Pennsylvania, Dutch country, taking 27 hours to craft each and every one of them. But here's the wildest part. Peeps were a secret product only known by the locals.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
During economic downturns, the first financial decision is to delay a big ticket item like a car. You don't walk out of your therapy session and then walk into a Jeep dealership. It doesn't work that way. So Ford isn't offering everyone employee discounting to be patriotic. No, no, no, no, no. Why are they actually doing it, Jack?
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Ford is doing it to clear out their inventory ahead of what could be a brutal downturn. Oh, and you know what? Ford's not the only one thinking this way, because their buddies over at Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler, owned by Stellantis, are doing employee pricing as well.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
So if you're looking to buy a new car, they might actually be lower priced right now, temporarily, before the tariffs kick in and the price really goes up. Sorry, I've got to pause the pod for a sec. Jack, are you saying to buy the car dip? I Is that what you're saying right now? There is a car dip right now. Yeah. Very temporarily. Only from a couple of companies. That's not investing advice.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
That's just math advice right there. Yeti's car companies, they want some positive PR and they want to empty out their dealer lots. And they want to do all that because of our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Discount Ford? This time, inflation will hit garages worse than groceries. Uh, yetis, trigger warning for all those who hate flation.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Yeah, we're going back to 2022's hot inflation summer. Back then, we experienced shrinkflation, swapflation, and sneakflation. Basically, a bunch of ways that companies gave us less but then charged us more. And they could get away with all that because we were flush with pandemic savings and stimmy checks. Some people called it greedflation as a result.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But this time, we're not flush with pandemic savings and stimulus checks. And price hikes, they'll be caused by tariffs on stuff made abroad. And what kind of stuff is made abroad, Jack? Cars, grills, sporting equipment, patio furniture, yard toys for the kids to play in the backyard. And mattress, mattress, mattresses.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
That's the stuff we are overwhelmingly buy from overseas or stuff that requires overseas parts. So if this trade war is sustained, which Trump has signaled it will, it won't be worse in the grocery store. Besties, these tariffs, they're going to raise prices on everything, but especially the stuff in your garage. Yeah, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday?
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Bullish retail investors are buying the stock market dip. Fearful investors are thinking of selling. And the best way to look at the stock market? Like a time machine. We're just at the same place we were one year ago. For our second story, Artipop is a popular baby carrier, but they're also selling a version that's 10 times more expensive. Because the best status symbols are status subtles.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And our third and final story. Ford is offering employee discounts for all. It's good patriotic PR before the trade war kicks in. Because this time, inflation will hit garages worse than groceries. And yetis, if you've got a takeaway on our takeaways, drop a comment in the comments on YouTube and Spotify. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But in the last 75 years, they went from mystery backroom artisan projects into the largest marshmallow manufacturer in the world. And nothing owns a particular holiday like Peeps owns Easter. Spring, like they say, Jack. April showers bring Peeps towers. Odds are, statistically speaking, this is the one month of the year you're going to eat a peep.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
First, Apple stock sank a third day in a row. The reason? Trump threatened an additional 50% tariffs on the country of China. For those keeping track, that would be a retaliatory tariff to China's retaliatory tariffs. which were retaliatory to Trump's original retaliatory tariffs for China's original tariffs. This is a tariff war spiraling out of control.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
While Trump and Xi are playing tariff chicken, Apple's iPhone is caught in the crossfires. Second, J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon published his annual shareholder letter yesterday, and it was the longest one yet. 158 pages! This is not a letter, it's a novel. Now, we didn't cover it as a full story in today's episode because there wasn't that much bold new information in it.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But Jamie did have one big quote, and he said that the trade war could be the big straw that breaks the camel's back and cause a recession. And finally, we hope your calendar is free this week because there's a whole bunch of major world events happening. Okay, we had March Madness. The UConn women won it all on Sunday and the men's final was last night.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
The Masters Golf Tournament begins this Thursday in Augusta, Georgia. And Coachella begins on Friday in California. Also on Thursday is Nick's colonoscopy. It is my colonoscopy. The liquidation event of the year. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Jason Geiger from Buffalo Bills, New York, about the Saratoga Springs water, the viral water we covered two weeks ago on the pod.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Really? And that's how we got the potato chip. In Saratoga Springs, New York? Saratoga Springs Water is responsible for the potato chips we all love and know today. That's incredible. There is nothing Cornelius Vanderbilt would be more proud of than Saratoga Water now being used at 4 a.m. for an influencer's wake-up routine, Jack. Yetis, you look fantastic today.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Jack, you are looking fantastic as well. And remember, the best thing you can do right now is to go and check out the best idea yet. We just dropped a new episode on Peeps, which is huge because this is Peeps' month. Buy the Peeps dip. Jack and I will see you there. We got a link in the episode description. And Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait. Can't wait.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And before we go, a happy second birthday to Eddie Baz Flageolet, celebrating the big two down in the Presidio of San Francisco. Happy birthday to Rachel Steigerwald in Seattle, who asked a question at our Seattle live show. And Elise and Amado Villareal in Napa, California, are parents with the same birthday, which is today. That is wild. No one can never know, guys.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Oh, by the way, if you're hungry today but have no money, Ben & Jerry's is getting out free ice cream cones all day. Okay, free cone day. Jack, legendary annual event, your go-to for the free cone. What do you do? Milk and cookies. Underrated flavor, best they have.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But Jack and I bet you got no idea how the world's biggest little marshmallow actually came to be. So yetis, check out the latest episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. We'll tell you all about the secret handmade Peeps factory that was employing only German grandmas. And how Peeps growth hacked an entire calendar month.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Mine is anything with cookie dough, forget the cone, put it in a cup, get extra hot fudge, and that's really all you need to eat is the hot fudge. By the way, we have a whole episode on the Ben & Jerry's fish food flavor. So check that out on The Best Idea Yet. Go check out The Best Idea Yet and Jack and I will see you there. This is Jack. I own stock of Ford.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Robinhood. And we both own ETFs of the S&P 500. 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.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
If you've got a relative obsessed with Peeps, yeah, like me, send them our latest episode of The Best Idea Yet. If you got a buddy, maybe named Timmy, who worships Peeps like some kind of cult at the food altar, send them this episode. That's right. We published a Peep show. And we got a link in this episode description. But Jack, today's show is a fantastic T-boy. Should we hit our three stories?
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
On your colonoscopy EVV. I'm getting cleaned out.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Oh, I hope you don't have to liquidate stocks to pay for it, do you? I don't have to liquidate stocks, but I feel like the whole stock market system is getting cleaned out too. It wasn't Liberation Day. It was Liquidation Day. If you know, you know. Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got on the team, boy?
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
For our first story, a record number of retail investors are BTD. They're buying the dip. At the same time, record numbers are selling right now. They're selling the dip? So here's how we're looking at this insane stock market. And it involves a time machine. But Jack, can you please share the Warren Buffett quote that made Warren Buffett Warren Buffett? It's fantastic investing advice.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. Well, right now, others seem to be fearful because stocks have plummeted because of stock selling. The stock chart right now looks as red as Ron Weasley. Doesn't matter what stock you're looking at. But according to the data, people are also being greedy right now because there's a whole lot of stock plummeting. buy-in.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
According to the data, there have been a record number of people snagging up stocks on the market right now like they were on the sale rack. Get this. According to JP Morgan, regular old retail investors like you and us had our biggest day of buying stocks in over a decade. Retail investors are non-professional investors, basically anyone with a Robinhood account.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And collectively, we bought $4.7 billion of stock on Thursday. It was the biggest retail stock buying day in over 10 years for your buddy, Timmy. That's the way to think about it. And the reason that's wild is the timing. Because on Thursday, stocks fell 5%. It was right after Trump's big Liberation Day news. It was like stocks were on the sale rack, snagging a deal.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
It's like the whole stock market was a cute top at J.Crew, 20% off. Come and get them, people. Come and get them. Or at least that's what retail investors felt when they bought the dip on Thursday. But so far, we should point out buying Thursday's dip is a little bit of a mistake because stocks fell another 6% on Friday.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And we don't have the data yet, but there were a lot of people who probably tried to buy Friday's dip too. That was also kind of a little bit of a mistake because stocks fell Monday as well. So buying the dip has not been working so far. You've been binging on the dip. You may want to lay off the dip for a little bit. Now, we should sprinkle on some context.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
For our first story, with stocks down 17% from their all-time highs, record numbers are asking, should I buy the dip? So to answer that question, we're going to think of the stock market like a time machine. For our second story, it's Artipop. Artipop just unveiled a $3,800 baby carrier. A baby carrier because the best status symbols are actually status subtles.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
We just had the worst stock drop since the pandemic. But how bad has it been, Nick? Well, yetis, when stocks drop, Jack and I don't pull out a calculator. We pull out a calendar. Here are the last three stock market crashes and how far they crashed each time. All right, Jack, whip out that calendar. What are we seeing, man? The most recent stock market crash was the pandemic.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
In February and March of 2020, stocks fell 33% from their highest point to their lowest point. And that was scary. How about the dot-com bust of 1999? Stocks fell 49% during that period. That was scarier. And the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession that followed? Stocks fell 56% from their highest point to the lowest point. And that was the scariest.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
So historically speaking, Trump's trade war crash is kind of tiny. We're looking at the numbers from last week and from their peak to their trough, stocks have now fallen just 17%. That's like half as much as the other big stock drops. So if you're buying the dip right now, you don't think Trump's trade war is nearly as bad as the pandemic, the dot-com bust, or the financial crisis.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Yeah, you don't think it's nearly as bad as those previous crashes, you know, like 50% drops. So maybe you don't think this trade war is in the same category as the pandemic, the dot-com bust, and the financial crisis. If that's what you believe, then maybe this is the bottom. Stocks will go up from here. Maybe you're not just buying the dip. Maybe you're binging the dip right now.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But we've found that timing the market is nearly impossible. It's best to just invest for the long term and stop trying to buy dips. The amount of times I've called Jack and said, we just bought at the perfect point, and then I was so wrong two weeks later. Yeah. Instead, Nick and I invest each time we get a paycheck. Regardless of the timing, we put money in the market and long-term it goes up.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But a lot of you are probably thinking about selling right now too. And for that, because of all the fear out there, we have a takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are BTD or STD? You know what? I didn't really think about it, but I said it. The best way to look at the stock market right now is to get in a time machine.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Yetis, another way to think about this stock market crash, the S&P 500 today is at the same place it was exactly one year ago. Stocks are down 17% from their February all-time highs, but stock levels are at the same point as one year ago. Yeah, and Jack, back in April 2024, when stocks were at the same level they are right now, what were people saying?
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
We were saying that stocks were looking fantastic. Because in April 2024, we were celebrating that stocks were at all-time highs. Now we're back at that same point. But unlike last year, we're not celebrating. Right now, we're all fearful. But Bessie's this, this time travel experiment, this shows why we shouldn't panic right now.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Instead, we should zoom out of this week's stock market chaos and see that stocks historically rise. Yeah, there are drops along the way, but over time, stocks have always risen. It feels like the stock market is horrible right now. but it's actually just back to where it was in April of 2024. And that's why the best way to look at the stock market is to get in a time machine.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
For our second story, one baby brand called Artipop just launched a $3,800 baby carrier. Nick and I crunched the mom math and found out how a baby carrier can be priced like a car. Now, yetis, to sprinkle on some context, let's go to one of the great quotes in Bartlett's quotation history. Jack, Mrs. George in Mean Girls. Wearing a juicy couture tracksuit, she said, I'm not a regular mom.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
I'm a cool mom. Boom, fashion influencers, mommy bloggers, and social media's coolest riches moms are apparently buying $400 baby carriers. I already popped. It's the Birkin bag of baby carriers. And full disclosure, Nick and I were each gifted one of these on our baby registries when we had our first babies. Is it a write-off? We never really clarified that, Jack. We have not written these off.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But we should clarify further that we did not purchase the $800 version of these baby carriers. The $800 version is made of mulberry silk from a rare mountain range. That version looks like how a first-class airplane flies. feels.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And our third and final story, Land Rover and Jaguar are pausing car shipments to the United States because of the tariffs. But Ford is doing the opposite. They're giving everyone the old employee discount. If you need a new car, we'll explain why now is the time. That's right. A value meal SUV. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Artipop was founded by a Dutch mother of four in her home country of the Netherlands and was acquired a couple years ago by the Bugaboo Baby Group that makes a bunch of baby products. According to the Wall Street Journal, revenue for this company is up 15% in the past year to $250 million. Yeah. Artipop is the new push present.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
It's what you get when you want your baby's first word to be sustainable luxury. Now, Nick and I knew that the $400 Artipop baby carrier was popular because like most moms that we know have one. You know, if you toss it on the baby registry, someone else has to pay for it. But we didn't know that they launched a version that's almost $4,000.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
We repeat, Artipop has a ultra, ultra luxury option for their baby carriers at 10 times the price of the base model. $3,800 for a cashmere baby carrier. I'm sorry, Jack. That's not the Birkenbag of baby carriers. That's the Lamborghini of baby carriers. It's the Bugatti of baby carriers. talking about a baby carrier, something that you carry your newborn in.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
They can't even speak yet, and it's the same price as a used car. So why are they doing this, and how are they doing this? That's what we got curious about. Nick and I did the girl math on it, actually the mom math, and here it is. Yeah. If you wear this every day for the first two years of your baby's life, that comes out to five bucks a day.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And if you happen to have two kids and use it for both kids, it comes out to $2.50 a day. It's less than the price of a latte, Nick. And at that point, you could probably resell it at half the price. And at that point, Jack? It's only $1.25 per day. Basically paying for itself.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
But Jack and I got more curious beyond the numbers and we thought, okay, what's the strategy here behind pricing something 10 times more than the other products you're selling? We've said before that the direct competition isn't necessarily the correct competition. And that's when we realized maybe Artipop is actually competing with handbags, not other baby carriers.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Because if you're a mom with a newborn... Your baby carrier is your primary accessory now. Your baby carrier has essentially replaced your coach bag. So Artipop isn't pricing in competition with the Ergobaby baby carrier, which is much more affordably priced. No, Artipop is actually pricing itself to compete with an Hermes handbag. The direct competition isn't necessarily the correct competition.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Which leads to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Artipop Baby Carriers? The best status symbols are status subtles. Status, saddles, yetis. This was the wildest part of this $3,800 baby carrier drama. This new baby carrier looks no different than all its other baby carriers. The only difference between the $400 version and the $4,000 version is the materials.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
So like if you're using the $400 Artipop baby carrier- Like Nick and I are. It looks exactly like the four- $1,000 Artipop baby carrier. That's 10 times the price. You'll only notice the difference if you can tell the difference between cotton and linen on one hand and cashmere on the other hand.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
And that gives customers an incentive to buy either one of the versions, both the cheaper one and the more expensive one. If you buy the cheaper one, you may hope that someone mistakes it for the expensive one. Or if you buy the expensive one, those who know, they will know. And that makes you feel good and is maybe worth the price.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Even if Artie Pop only sells one of these ludicrously expensive $4,000 baby carriers, that has lifted the whole brand. Because right now, the best status symbols are actually status saddles. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Whoa, fantastic mix of stories for a T-Boy Tuesday check. Yesterday, we asked you a trivia question. Yes, we did. What candy originally took 27 hours to make each and every one of them? Well, the answer... is Peeps. It's Peeps. Peeps, the little squishy sugar candy that caused your first cavity. You haven't had a cavity though, have you? I've never had a cavity. I've had a lot of Peeps.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
For our third and final story, Ford is now offering employee pricing for all. That's right. Ford just launched the first ever trade war discount. But trade war inflation is different than pandemic inflation. We'll see it in cars, not crackers. All right, Jack. The first place we're going to notice tariffs, where is it going to be exactly?
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Not the gas station, grocery store, or bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. No, no, no, no, no. It's going to be at the car dealerships. Because any car not made in the United States will have to pay a 25% tariff the moment it crosses the border into the U.S. The result, get this, new car prices are going to rise an estimated $4,000 to $12,000 per car, according to Motor Trend Magazine.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
That is a huge... increase in price. Oh, and by the way, it isn't even just cars not made in America. Cars made in America, yeah, they're going to have to pay tariffs too. Because parts in those American-made cars come from all over the world. Jack, what did Land Rover and Jaguar do as a result of all this? They stopped shipping cars to the United States. Yeah, that's right.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Because the tariffs would mess so badly with their business. Those British brands, you can't even get a fresh new Range Rover right now if you want a freshie. Meanwhile, Stellantis is idling their factories in Mexico and Canada until they figure out what to do. So add it all up, Yetis, and that led to the shocking last week headline straight out of Ford.
The Best One Yet
đ˘ âBuy the Dip?â â Or sell the dip? Artipopeâs $3,800 baby carrier. Fordâs patriot discount.
Ford isn't raising prices, which would make sense because of tariffs. They're actually cutting prices. Ford is cutting prices. They're doing a discount double check. What is Ford doing, Jack? Ford is offering employee discount for all, and they're branding it red, white, and blue. From America for America. Employee pricing for all. Now, this shocked Nick and me because we know Ford isn't UNICEF.
The Best One Yet
âˇď¸ âSki-Pocalypseâ â Park Cityâs ski strike. NYCâs traffic tax. The Birth of Gen Beta.
15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
This is Nick. This is Jack. And today's innovation pod is the best one yet. Our top three growth hack stories of the last year. Yeti's Nick and Jack here. And if you're here in this episode, then Jack's baby just arrived and he's actually on paternity leave. Chances are I'm waiting for the perfect light to take the perfect picture to reveal this baby on Instagram.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
So then they said, okay, we have got something here. Let's think about what consumers want. And Jack, what was the reaction in the test markets? Bad. Consumers didn't like it. It was bad. According to the Wall Street Journal, every bit of data about these new nerds clusters said it was going to be a dud. Online surveys of the concept also came back negative.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
In focus groups, people said the nerds cluster was like kibble for people. It was dehumanizing. They said it looked like fish tank gravel. You can't serve that at a big affair, Jack. But the people in charge of nerds ignored the tests and followed their tastes instead. So they went to market with the nerds clusters.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Even though every data point said that this was going to be a failure of the product, they launched it, which is the kind of thing that, honestly, it's going to get your whole team fired if it fails, Jack. But it didn't fail. The nerds' cluster started going viral. And now, it's the fastest-growing candy in America. With $700 million in sales... six times more than the original Nerds Candy.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
For comparison, that's about a fourth as much sales as number one, which is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. And they're probably almost as big as a Lyft. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Nerds Clusters? There is a case for going with your gut. Yetis, we've all been in that meeting.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
The meeting where you want to do something and you're excited, but then someone says, hey, but what does the data say? You have a fantastic idea, but some buzzkill in the corner of the conference room asks if I have data to back it up. data. It drives decisions across the meeting rooms of corporate America for everything. Deservedly so. But there's another way you can make a decision.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
It's called going with your gut. Or how about we call it intuitive insight instead? I like that rephrasing, Jack, because Yeti's guts are actually a combination of expertise, of awareness, and of your risk tolerance. According to Psychological Science Magazine, it's deep experience that informs gut instincts, but those deep experiences are overlooked.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Hacks, rapid growth for minimal cost. Hacks, huge engagement for tiny involvement. Hacks, big returns for small investment. Besties, if you drop the term growth hack in your next pitch deck, then Mark Andreessen will take your meeting and kiss your left cheek. Because from startups to stocks, there's nothing hotter than a hack. No, there isn't.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And there's a great example with the National Institute of Health. Medical trainees using intuition had equal or greater accuracy than simple quantitative analysis. There's a great study from the National Institute of Health where medical trainees use their intuition instead of following quantitative analysis, and they got equal or better results in the medical field.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And Harvard Business Review has a list of successful products where data said, no, you shouldn't launch this, but the leader's gusts said yes. For example, all the data said that sports cards would never sell, but sports cars are now a huge industry. And the data famously told Steve Jobs that he shouldn't launch the iPod or the iPhone And he launched both anyway.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
So yetis, your gut, it's actually a powerful input you gotta listen to. Because your gut is built on experience. I think what we're saying, Jack, is that there's a brain in your gut. Now time for the best fact. Yeah, this one whipped up by Jack and me. One of the great examples of a hack is the Duolingo Streak. Ah, the Duolingo Streak. Jack, tell us more. Tell us more.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Duolingo is a language app, the largest education app on earth, actually. Muy importante. And they introduced the concept of a streak. A streak. Most apps don't want you to know how long you've been using them because you'll be like, oh my Lord, I have a problem. But Duolingo, they did the opposite. They created streak badges so you can boast about how much time you've been in the app.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Duolingo tapped into your internal motivation and your desire to boast as a growth hack. You look fantastic for our latest bonus pod, but we have got three more coming your way, don't we, Jack? But make sure to send this episode to your buddy who's launching a company, launching a product, trying to innovate, or in need of a growth hack. Or just want something to brag about at business school.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait. 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
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
In fact, one reason Jack and I asked you to send us the best fact yet on our daily show. Why is it, Jack? It's a growth hack. It is. Because when you hear your voice on the show, you share the episode on Instagram, which of course we love. We love it. It's a growth hack. So, besties, we've actually covered hundreds of these innovation and growth hacks on our show. We love covering them.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
We whipped up three of our favorite ones to inspire your next hack you need. Three creative business ideas for innovation hacks. Let's hit them.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
So all week long, we're dropping our best ones yet of the best one yet bonus pods. Today's show is on innovation hacks. We've got too many to fit in one episode, but these are three fantastic ones. So send this episode to your buddy who's building something. huge. Jack, three stories. What do we got for today?
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
For our first story, we're going back to August 30th, 2024. Shark Ninja. Their stock is up another 26% since we covered this story. They opened a new innovation hub in New York City. They entered skincare with an anti-aging LED mask. They've got an insane growth hack. Jack, let's hit it. Shark Ninja is taking over kitchens, carpets, and all of your cabinet space.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
How does Shark Ninja decide what home appliance to create next? How do they do it, Jack? They read online reviews. They read the reviews. Now, Yeti's funny little story that Jack and I tell each other and made up is that somebody at Shark goes to their CFO and says, you know what? We should acquire Ninja. Why would we do that? Because then we can call ourselves Shark Ninja.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
That's the origin story of Shark Ninja that Nick and I like to tell. Yeti Shark Ninja. They are based in lovely Needham, Massachusetts. Just outside Boston. And Shark Ninja happens to be the fastest growing brand in all of home appliances. Right. This $12 billion publicly traded company will blend, vacuum, toast, fry, and roast everything in your apartment.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
If there is a verb, they will verb that verb. Now, besties, you may know Shark Vacuums or you may know Ninja Blenders. Those are two of their top products. But this company actually makes 34 different types of home appliances. From air fryers to hair dryers, grills to ice cream makers. They just launched a slushie machine and got a 100,000 person wait list.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Like we said, besties, if it spins, if it blows, if it heats, if it freezes, if it sucks, Shark Ninja will sell it to you for six easy payments of $29.99. No POD, which is like payment on delivery. What is that, by the way? Still don't understand cash on demand. I feel like that's a different era. But yetis, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Isn't Shark Ninja's strength actually a major risk? 34 product lines? Yeah, that's a lot. They might be spreading themselves out too thin. Like the great Ron Swanson once said to us, Jack. Don't half-ass two things. Full-ass one thing. Don't half-ass two things. Full-ass one thing.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
So our assumption, if you're making 34 items and you're not that big a company like Shark Ninjas, too much quantity might hurt the quality. Well, it turns out we'd be wrong. Because this company IPO'd one year ago. Their stock has tripled since that IPO. Huge. So Nick and I dove into the financials.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
We discovered that Shark Ninja has actually gained market share in nearly every category that they operate from toasters to blenders. They do it thanks to heavy spending on research and development. Yeah, it turns out that Shark Ninja dropped 6% of their revenue on research and development to improve their products. That's a much bigger proportional spend than the competition.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And that constant improvement cycle, thanks to research and development, puts them ahead of Instapot, of Cuisinart, and of Maytag. Plus, since they have so many products, Sharknado is basically immune to consumer fads. Yeah, this is a funny thing, Jack, and I noticed that... You know, like, after everyone bought an Instapot, Instapot sales just dried up. Remember that, Jack?
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
For our first story, we're going back to August 30th, 2024, when shares of Shark Ninja, the appliance company, had surged 140%. We'll tell you how Shark Ninja took over your home from air fryers to hair dryers. For our second story, we're going back to October 23rd. Sunscreen sold in a whipped cream can. Interesting. Tampons sold in an ice cream pint. What? The new packaging trend is chaos.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
There was no one else to sell to, so Instapot eventually went bankrupt. Yeah, we covered it on the pod. The bankruptcy of Instapot, a one-product company. But for Shark Ninja, after everyone buys a Shark toaster... then the company can sell them a Ninja Blender. Or the 32 other Shark Ninja products that they happen to make from your kitchen to your bathroom.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And then once you've bought all 34 products. Yeah. It's probably been like 10 years. You need to replace all those products. If you've got a verb, they're going to sell you that verb. No, they're going to sell you the noun. They're basically selling you the noun for the verb. Good point. Good point. Grammar fact check. So Jack, what's the takeaway? It's both a noun and a verb. Yeah.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
You know what I'm talking about. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Shark Ninja? Consumer pain is Shark Ninja's gain. So yetis, how does Shark Ninja really decide what to create next? Well, they don't find what you love. They find what you hate.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
According to the Wall Street Journal, Shark Ninja's product development team scours online reviews and social media posts to find consumer pain points and then develops a solution for them. Okay, so Jack, what was that solution? For example, remember what Shark Ninja did with Dyson vacuum cleaners? I own a Dyson cordless vacuum.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
It's a great product, but after a while, the little coil in the middle gets wrapped up with hair, and I have to take scissors to cut all that hair off. Well, Shark Ninja noticed that those were the reviews being left about that vacuum, so they ordered their engineers to create a competitor without the hair clog issue. And the result? Sharknado now controls 45% of the U.S. stand-up vacuum market.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Half of the U.S. vacuum market is this one company, Shark Ninja. Shark Ninja doesn't look at what you love. They look at what you hate. And that's the key. Your consumer pain is their gain. For our second story, we're going back to October 23rd, 2024. Chaos packaging. This one is freaky. Can you sell sunscreen in a whipped cream can? The answer is yes.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Besties, the new trend in startups is chaos packaging. And it reveals the secret to selling anything. Now, Yetis, we were hanging out with you six months ago, and we did a fascinating story on a company called Graza. At the time, it was the best one yet. It was. It was the best one yet. Because Graza was the fastest selling olive oil in history. It's selling $50 million of product this year.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
It was selling so much olive oil, Caesar was jealous. So Jack and I got curious, what was Graza's secret? packaging. Yeah, Graz's olive oil was inspired by a shampoo bottle. It came in a squeezable plastic bottle, not like glass like every other olive oil. And refills, they come in a beer can. You can pop open olive oil like a Modelo.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
What Jack and I are saying is this ain't your average extra virgin olive oil. This ain't your average EVOO. But here's the news, yet, is Graza is not the only brand launching in crazy containers these days. Exhibit A, Happy Coffee, sells instant coffee in a pharmacy pill pack. Exhibit B, Engine Gin, sells gin alcohol in a motor oil tin can.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Exhibit 4, Vacation Skin Care, they sell sunscreen in a whipped cream spray canister. And they're getting 5 million views a week. On what, their TikTok? On everything, Jack. Yet he's added all up and this is all a new trend the Wall Street Journal calls chaos packaging. Chaos packaging. Nick and I were fascinated because this is actually a powerful financial trick shot.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Yeah, chaos packaging is a financial trick shot because it's an alternative to ads. The best example we found is a company called Flow Tampons. Flow Tampons. Flow Tampons happens to sell tampons, in an ice cream pint. Their product looks like a 16 ounce Ben and Jerry's pint, but inside is actually 16 tampons. We jumped in T-boy style.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Chaos packaging is trending because consumers decide in three seconds. And our third and final story is from October 31st. There is one candy you saw on Halloween. Totally. Nerd Clusters. It's the fastest growing candy in America. Nerd Clusters are a case study in going with your yut. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories, Jack. Hockey, stick, growth.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
The co-founder of Flow Tampons had the best quote, the best insight we've heard about this whole concept. She said, look, we're a startup. We can't afford a billboard. So this pint of tampons, that is our billboard. Exactly. Packages of Tampax, Playtex, Always, they all look the same on the shelf. An ice cream carton container within the tampon section?
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
It sticks out on the shelf just like a billboard. We've said the wars in the stores, and that is how you win the wars in the stores, with a pint of ice cream of tampons. For a fraction of the price, Flo basically got the same impact as a billboard would have given them. They stood out from the legacy competition just like a billboard would do.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And crazy packaging, it's the perfect opportunity for a startup. Because established brands, they're not going to mix things up with some crazy chaos packaging, are they, Jack? It wouldn't make sense for Procter & Gamble to do something like this. They don't want to confuse their long-term customers who have been buying for decades.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
P&G's lawyers aren't signing off on an ice cream tub of Tampax anytime soon. But a scrappy startup? They'll put a tampon in a pint, even if you accidentally means you stick it in the freezer when you get home. Yeah, it is called chaos packaging. We hope nobody accidentally chugs their sunblock whipped cream style thinking it's dairy. Honey! This is cookie dough.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies doing chaos packaging? You have three seconds. Three seconds to convince a consumer to buy. Best emphasis yet, Jack. Yetis and consumer goods from toothpaste to Tylenol, we generally take three seconds on average to decide if we buy. It's called dwell time. Dwell time. We take three seconds in the aisle to stop, judge the products, and make a decision.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And Jack, why do we take such short time, just three seconds in the aisle? We're busy. There's too many options. We can't dissect 18 different labels, so we probably just bought the thing we bought last time. Jack and I call this three-second phenomenon premature evaluation. So to jar consumers out of their routine, chaos packaging can be perfect.
The Best One Yet
đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
It can get them to linger for two more seconds in the aisle. Two more seconds is all you need. That's double the time. And that's why a startup is putting tampons and ice cream pints and putting them up on the shelf. Because when it comes to convincing a consumer to buy, you only have three seconds. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
For our third and final story, we're going back to October 31st, 2024, Halloween. In the meantime, Nerds actually did a Super Bowl commercial this year with Shaboosie, but we want to talk about their Halloween growth hack. The number one candy you're going to see this Halloween, it's Nerds Clusters. Nerds Clusters are the fastest growing candy in America thanks to one gutsy decision.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Yetis, get this, something Jack and I have never seen before. But the nerds' candy just got front page pieces in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I bet you both reporters were really angry when they learned that their coverage was going to be split between the two. I mean, forget election coverage. It's all about candy coverage these days.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
The reason both of the papers of record are covering nerds is because nerd sales have been growing like software recently. In six years, nerds' revenues have gone from $40 million a year to 700 million bucks a year, Jack. Can you sprinkle on some financial context? That's almost 20x growth in just six years. Nerds is the new NVIDIA. Nerds had a Super Bowl ad last year.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Going Gretzky, baby. How can you surge your company's sales from zero to 60 faster than a Ferrari when your business feels more like a Subaru? Okay, first of all, this sounds like an infomercial or like some kind of motivational speech. But I like the momentum, Jack. Because to do those things, you need a hack. A hack, a tip, a trick, or a sneaky idea to go further, cheaper.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
They're getting another one this year, and they're Kylie Jenner's favorite candy. And they're not even paying her to say that. They just happen to be your favorite candy. But we should clarify, this is not the box of nerds you remember from growing up, where the box is divided in two flavors, remember? No. No, no, no, no, no, no.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
What we are talking about is the new version of nerds known as the nerds clusters. A nerds cluster is a dime-sized gummy covered in the tiny, tangy nerds that you know. It basically is like eating a cavity. That's what it's like. Imagine like an almost melted Swedish fish that gets tossed into a bowl of Nerds and you spin it around a little bit and then you pull it out.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
And then get spray painted in 42 different colors. Yetis, get this. That spinoff version of Nerds was introduced just six years ago, but it's now 90% of Nerd sales. Nerds is basically gone. Nerds clusters are all you see now. The student has become the teacher. So, Yetis, we got to ask, how have Nerds clusters become the fastest growing candy in America?
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
Well, we read the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal articles, which were, by the way, the longest articles we have ever seen either of those papers produce. And according to that reporting, Nerds ignored the data. Back in 2018, Nerds was uncool. They had fallen behind Starburst, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids.
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đ âThe Hacks Podâ â Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks
So the company was bought by Ferrara, the Italian candy company, for just a tiny bit of money. And then Ferrara scientists pulled off an engineering feat. They managed to stick hard candies on a gummy and maintain the integrity of the shape. It was a candy innovation. And ultimately, they found the ideal ratio of crunchy to smushy. That's just really satisfying.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, February 20th. 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. And yeties, we have to finish quickly because Nick has an appointment after this recording. Don't you, Nick? I got a piano lesson guilty as charged. Was it your New Year's resolution to get back on the piano?
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Can you sprinkle on some context, please, Jack? 10,000 med spas compared to our 13,000 McDonald's. There's almost as many med spas as we have McDonald's. And what kind of numbers are they putting up, Jack? What kind of average revenue per location? $1.4 million, which is about three times the amount a nail salon brings in and twice as much as a blow-dry bar.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Oh, and by the way, the average customer at one of these med spas is dropping $500 per a visit. And insurance doesn't cover these kinds of cosmetic treatments. So it's an all cash business. And all cash is a profit puppy. So these med spas are getting 30% margins on each of those Botox drops. And you know the list of like beautifying treatments that I mentioned earlier in the story?
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
I think they call it a menu, Jack. But yeah, we can go on the list too. Well, these places add whatever health hack du jour to the menu when it comes. Good point. So it turns out now 15% of med spa treatments are off-brand Ozempic. They're basically doing weight loss shots. Add it all up and there's a record number of Americans hitting Brotox bars at lunch for a $500 midday butt pump.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Butt pump's a medical term. That's right. After a hard night out, you're not going to SoulCycle. You're getting a butt pump with your buddies. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the medical spa industry? The rise in med spas is a reminder that trends are a mosaic. Now, yeah, it is easy to think that trends just happen.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Like a person, an event, or a video just kicks them off and boom, they're happening. They're done. They're gone. Sometimes that's true, but usually trends are more complex. It's a number of unrelated forces coming together over the course of years. And that's the case here.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Because on the supply side, low barriers to entry like minimal licensing and two-month training or no doctors involved, that helped the growth of med spas. On the demand side, millennials are hitting middle age. Socially, we see on Instagram, everyone's got Botox. And professionally, you have to log into Zoom so your face is more important than ever.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
But these factors contributing to the Botox bars, they go back even further, all the way back to 2002. That's when the FDA first approved Botox for cosmetic uses. And then 10 years later with the rise of reality TV, the Real Housewives of anywhere basically normalized this. And then the Great Recession led to low interest rates for 10 years, making it easy for anybody to open up their own clinic.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Irrespective of the day. True. All of us wake up in a good mood. It's a universal truth. It turns out 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. is the magical mental time when all of us are happiest. It's great news. It is. Now, unfortunately, happiness dips until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Then at 4 o'clock, you have a snack, you're done with work, and you get a little bit of a happiness boost.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Boom, low rates. Yeah, let's get a loan and open up a Botox bar, bruh. So the med spa trend that's booming across America today, it's actually a result of micro and macro forces for the last 20 years. By the way, I hope nobody's looking at the skin in between my eyebrows because I'm self-conscious about it. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday?
The Best One Yet
đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
The finals of the NHL's four-nation face-off is tonight. USA versus Canada is getting Super Bowl-like attention. But the reason the NHL's all-star game succeeded, it had huge stakes. For our second story, Meta is building the world's biggest underwater sea cable, 31,000 miles long. Because as Ursula taught us in The Little Mermaid, Instagram is our biggest export, and this is how we export it.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And our third and final story. Med spas are easy to open, they face no regulation, and they enjoy sky-high Botox demand. But this Botox bar trend is actually the result of a mosaic. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Apple just launched a new cheaper iPhone for 599 bucks, but it is still powerful enough to use AI.
The Best One Yet
đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
They call it the iPhone 16E, which replaces the old iPhone SE, the cheapest phone they offer. Now, some quick context here. iPhone sales actually disappointed last quarter. The first AI iPhone did not cause a replacement mega cycle like Apple hoped. And second, is it just us or have Uber prices gone up lately? They've gone way up and we got data for it. We do.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Uber and Lyft prices are actually up 7.2% in the last year. The median fare is now $15.99. Nick, that's a high price and the earnings report shows that consumers are starting to push back on those surge prices. So best is if you're walking to work right now because your Uber to work suddenly looked like 30 bucks to Midtown, this is why.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And finally, when Warren Buffett spends money, we look at the receipts. And his latest spend, he's thirsty for beer. Yeah, Berkshire Hathaway just invested $1.2 billion into Constellation Brands, the owner of Modelo and Corona. The stock is down 26% recently, so Warren Buffett is buying the dip. In fact, even though alcohol consumption is down, it is still growing for premium alcohol.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
So Warren is betting on the top shelf stuff. At the next shareholder meeting, Warren's going to go, stay thirsty, my friends. Or he's going to say, earnings per share was $2.70. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Ashley all the way over in Queens. Yesterday, we mentioned the legend Lonnie Johnson, who invented the super soaker.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Yeah, Lonnie, a black American who grew up in the segregated South, but invented the best-selling water toy of all time. Well, Ashley from Queens jumped into the story and found out that Lonnie actually had to sue Hasbro in 2013 to get his money. Yeah, he noticed that his royalty payments for the Super Soaker weren't keeping pace with the Super Soaker sales.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And then your least happy point in the day, on average, is midnight. Turns out the later you are up, the less happy you are. But Yeti's certain mornings during the week are happier than other mornings are. Friday mornings are happier than Monday mornings. And certain mornings during the year are happier than other times, too. Summer mornings are happier than winter mornings.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
He ended up winning that lawsuit and walked away with $73 million payout from Hasbro. Not too shabby. Congratulations, Lonnie. Another bit of adversity that Lonnie Johnson overcame. Yetis, you look fantastic over there, especially you, Jack. I noticed you're wearing a black Patagonia fleece, if I'm correct. Not too shabby. It's my pullover of choice and the best idea yet, actually.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Yeah, we have been getting so many DMs about people listening to our Patagonia fleece episode of The Best Idea Yet. Have you seen this, Jack? No, I haven't seen these DMs. They're very into it. Okay, right now, Jack looks like he's either scaling a mountain or scaling a spreadsheet.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Either way, the Patagonia Fleece is a fantastic story and you got to check it out on the Best Idea Yet, our weekly show. We've got a link in the episode description so it's easy for you to listen to. So yetis, enjoy that pod after this one and Jack and I will see you tomorrow.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And before we go, a happy ninth birthday to Harvey Snyder, the Pokemon master and master baker over in Spokane, Washington. Happy birthday to Chase McElroy in Costa Mesa. The legendary Chase in Gentan in Alameda, California loves fleece and her pet hot dog named Ridiculous. And a big shout out to Moises Guzman, who's listening over in Deutschland via YouTube.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And Tristan Rogers down in Los Angeles is new to the show. Tristan, fantastic to have you with us. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Especially if it's 7 a.m., the happiest moment of the day, celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Berkshire Hathaway, and Nick and I both own stock of Apple.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
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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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Therefore, the happiest moment of the year, Nick? Jack, it would be 7 a.m. on Saturday, July 15th. So yetis, if you just woke up, you just grabbed a coffee and you're on the way to work. You look fantastic. You must be so happy over there. But if you're listening to us right before bed, cheer up. Tomorrow morning is going to be a better day. Trust us. It'll be better in seven hours.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And right now, take a second to set your alarm for 7 a.m. on Saturday, July 15th. Trust us. We dove into the data. And that is the best moment yet. Although, what's wrong with these 50,000 women? I love the moment right before bed. Like you're about to enjoy eight hours of sleep in like fluffy down comfort. Faux down, Jack. Faux down.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Ah. My New Year's resolution was to learn a Beatles song by the end of the year. I got you, Jack. Really? Yeah, it was. It is. Do you have one in mind? I had one yesterday, but I can't remember it, Jack. I think the song is yesterday, but well done. If you know, you know. Three stories today. T-Boy Jack, what do we got on today's pod? For our first story, tonight's NHL hockey game is the U.S.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
For our first story, tonight, the United States plays Canada in the finals of the wildest hockey tournament in decades. Tickets just hit Super Bowl levels. For hockey? Okay, it's for hockey, Jack. The NHL pulled off a masterclass in storytelling. Yetis, let's talk numbers. Last week, 10 million people watched on TV as Team USA played Team Canada in hockey. Jack, the context?
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Was this an Olympics matchup? It was not an Olympics matchup, was it, man? It was the NHL's new remix on the All-Star Game. Basically, East versus West, that's a matchup nobody cares about. True. So the NHL did the four nations face-off instead. Yeah, this is a new concept. And they only chose all-stars from four countries to play in this new tournament.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
The United States, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. And those players represent their nation in a round-robin all-star tournament. If you're a player in the NHL not born in one of those countries, well, you just take the week off, you relax, and you watch the action on TV instead. By the way, sorry, Russia, you invaded Ukraine. Yeah. So you don't get a spot in the four nations face-off.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Jaromir Jagr, by the way, not happy the Czech Republic wasn't invited. But the USA and Canada were invited. And in their match on Saturday, there were three fights that broke out in the first nine seconds. In the first minute of the game, four teeth were lost on the ice. Get this, the first fight included an American guy. The second fight included his brother. Both.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And when they got to the penalty box, they gave each other a high five. Okay, things got so dramatic that there was so much booing during the U.S. National Anthem, the stadium had to remind fans to respect the singing. And the reason things were particularly intense this year- What is it, Jack? Was Trump's tariffs on Canada.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Also- And his demand they become the 51st state, and his mocking of Canada's prime minister. All of that led to the high drama, which leads up to tonight, the final of the four nations NHL hockey tournament. It's a rematch between the USA and Canada. It's going to be intense. And honestly, we've checked the numbers. This will be the most geopolitical hockey game since the miracle on ice.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
In fact, that drama is so high, we can actually see it in the ticket prices. Jack, what kind of numbers are we seeing on StubHub right now if we want to go to the games? The lowest price ticket to get into the Boston Arena where the game's played is $1,200. Those are Super Bowl prices. Totally. Hockey, it's getting so much attention right now. The Stanley Cup is blushing, Jack.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Wayne Gretzky should run for office. This is a big day for my hockey-loving people, Jack. I think Mark Messier now has more followers than Addison Rae. I love it. So the context here is that the NHL has bucked the trend of terrible and unwatchable all-star games. Because besties in the basketball all-star game, no one plays defense and no one cares.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
All-Stars versus Canada's All-Stars. But this hockey game is also an economic battle and a lesson on storytelling. For our second story, get this. Meta is building the biggest undersea internet cable ever. True story. It's 31,000 miles long. Because to quote Ariel, the future of AI is under the sea. Okay, I love that, but that was Sebastian, not Ariel. Pretty sure it was Ariel.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
The NFL Pro Bowl, which is their all-star game, they actually switched recently to be non-contact. It's just flag football now. The players are so financially focused that their goal in the all-star game is just to not get injured or not get embarrassed. They don't want to ruin their career because they went all out for a play in an exhibition match.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
It's because the players are only focused on their paychecks. Their goal in the All-Star Game is basically not get injured, not get embarrassed. It would stink if your career ended because you went all out in the All-Star Game and twisted your knee. As a result, the NBA and NFL All-Star Games have disappointed and nobody actually watches them. Last weekend, the NBA had their All-Star Game.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And viewership is down 75% from previously higher levels. And yet hockey, which is last in every metric from viewership to revenue to team valuations of all the big four leagues. Hockey is about to put up NFL numbers tonight in terms of viewership. So Jack and I had to ask, how is hockey's all-star game succeeding where other leagues are failing? Well, the NHL. The NHL found stakes.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies getting five for fighting over in hockey? Without stakes, there's no drama. Without drama, there's no story. yet he's in storytelling. Stakes are what the character stands to gain or lose. Stakes are why you care. The whole wizarding world and muggle world could be destroyed by Voldemort unless Harry saves them.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
If Maximus fails to defeat Commodus in the Great Coliseum, then all of Rome has to live under the tyranny of Joaquin Phoenix. Those are stakes, and I need to watch this fight. That's why you love the movie Gladiator. Well, in this case, the NHL manufactured some stakes. They did so successfully by pitting America versus Canada. People care about patriotism and national bragging rights.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And they also enjoyed pent-up stakes. The NHL players haven't been allowed to compete in the last two Winter Olympics. So this is like a long overdue Olympics happening tonight. And they got lucky with some other stakes. Oh, the trade war? That made the stakes of this game even bigger. Now, yes, we should point out the NHL is unusually international, which made this whole matchup possible.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
The NBA can't do a league like this because 75% of their players are American. But still, every storyteller out there, from the CEO to the salesman to the sports leagues, benefits from stakes. Why was the NBA's best era the rivalries of the 1980s? Those are stakes. Why does Tom Rinaldi do an emotional human interest story with the player before every game? Those are stakes.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Without stakes, there's no drama. Without drama, there's no story. For our second story, Meta is building an underwater sea cable that is longer than the Earth's circumference. Because Zuck wants Instagram flowing through his internet. Zucky Zuck, Mark Zuckerberg. Jack, he looks a lot like Bob the Builder these days. Who's Bob the Builder?
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Jack, if you don't know who Bob the Builder is yet, the pod son is going to introduce you by around first grade. Well, yetis, here's the news. Meta announced this week he's building the longest underwater sea cable ever. This thing is 31,000 miles long. Jackie, sprinkle on a little more geographical context, please.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
That is longer than the distance of the Earth's circumference because it will connect five continents with high-speed internet. US, Brazil, South Africa, India, Australia, they're all going to be connected on Zuck's Highway in the Ocean. Now, what does this actually look like? Well, 24 cables braided together into one giant internet cable.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Yeah, watch out, Nemo, because draped across the ocean is going to rest this cable as deep as 7,000 meters. They're also going to bury the cable in high-risk zones to prevent accidental or intentional cutting of this expensive internet cord. Yeah, Jack, a ship knocked out a cable off the coast of Egypt a few years ago, and internet was out for 75% of the country.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Sometimes it's by accident, other times it's geopolitical. So Zuck's new underwater cable, it's like hands across America, but on internet steroids. Nick, did you hear that Meta's stock just finished a record 20 straight days of rising? Not too shabby. Meta can afford this 31,000 mile cable cord. Longer than the world. But yet he's Jack and I still got curious.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Gender third and final story. What's the deal with med spas? What's going on with med spas? America has 10,000 medical spas. Medical spas, Botox, lip filler, butt plumpers. They are surging right now. So we got the numbers on Botox bars. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, fantastic mix of stories, Jack. Scientists have discovered the happiest time of the year.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Why is Meta dropping $10 billion, laying internet fiber across the ocean floor? Why is Meta leading on the invisible infrastructure that the world needs but none of us ever see? Because Meta, they ain't UNICEF, are they, Jack? They're not improving the world's internet as like a give back to society. No, no, no, no, no. So we looked at the numbers and here's the hero stat.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Get this, Meta's websites account for 10% of all internet traffic globally that happens on fixed internet connections. In fact, Meta's apps account for 22% of all mobile traffic too. The only company that does more internet traffic is Google. And Netflix is third, by the way. And why is that, Jack? Because you've streamed every season of Great British Baking Show, and that's a lot of data.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Dylan got robbed. But this story is about Meta, isn't it, man? Meta's business depends on strong internet reaching every corner of the world. So much so that Zuck will invest in cables that the whole world can use, even his rivals. The ties that bind us are made of fiber and sit at the bottom of the Caspian Sea. Or Jack, again, to quote Ariel, the future of AI is under the sea. Sebastian did.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
It's the lobster. I think you're misremembering her accent. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone using the internet? America's biggest export is Instagram. These cables are how it happens. Yetis, with Trump's tariffs on physical goods, the world could begin trading less stuff with each other. But that's only for physical goods.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Digital goods and services are unaffected by tariffs. And honestly, that is a huge relief to Zuckerberg. Because 95% of his 3 billion users, they actually live outside of the USA. So he's building out cables to ensure that he can deliver his apps to whoever he wants, however he wants, across the whole world.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Basically, Zuck's thinking if Meta builds data centers in America, he wants the rest of the world to be able to access that compute. If Meta decides to store his AI data servers in Ireland for tax reasons, this cable can bring that intelligence all the way to Idaho. Basically, Zuck wants to control his digital destiny by owning the rails that his Instagram flows on.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Because there's physical trade and then there's digital trade. And Instagram is actually our biggest digital export.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
For our third and final story, the hottest new trend in retail is med spas. The number of medical spas offering Botox, lip filler, and laser hair treatment has 6X'd since 2010. So Jack and I are calling it the Botox bar trend.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
But Yetis, if you happen to live in Park Slope, a lovely neighborhood over in Brooklyn, and you walk down Fifth Street, what are you going to notice on your right-hand side, Jack? A store called Cool Sculpt, another place called M Sculpt, and another place called Sculptra.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
And you're going to look at all these verves that are offering nine different med spa treatments and wonder what the heck is going on on this avenue. I think sculpt is code for when you walk out of here, you're going to look better. Things are going to fall off your face because there is literally no friction, baby. Med spas.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
They have pinpointed the hour, the minute, and the moment every single year that you are your happiest on average. And the happiest time of the year. Yes, Jack? Is at 7 a.m. on Saturday, July 15th. All right, mark your calendars. We'll explain. Researchers at the University College of London tracked 50,000 adult women. And they found that those women are happiest, right, when they wake up.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
Basically, it's short for medical spas, and they're occupying avenues all over Brooklyn. They're everywhere. And they have a 100% focus on beauty and cosmetics. They offer Botox, hair removal, lip filler, butt plumping services. Yeah. Fat dissolving services and IV drips in case you have a hangover. Okay.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
First of all, butt plumping sounds like a story for another pod, but I hope we still get to it today. In the meantime, these med spas, they have the same layout and the same business model as your typical nail salon. But they have trained medical staff for these like vaguely medical cosmetic treatments. It's like the Starbucks for Botox.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
You walk in with stress wrinkles around your eyes and you walk out looking like a porcelain doll. Exactly. Now in 2023, we covered the male Botox trend in America. Yeah, we called it Brotox. Well, this is the retail extension of it with brick and mortar stores. And we call this the Botox bar. Now, the surge of Botox bars is not limited just to this cool neighborhood in Brooklyn.
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đ âHockey Warâ â NHLâs USA vs Canada win. Botox Bars everywhere. Metaâs undersea cable.
It's a nationwide trend. And Bloomberg calls them the vape shops of the healthcare world because technically it's not really that regulated a space. And the lack of regulation has led to some numbers that will freeze the skin between your eyebrows. Because the number of med spa locations in America has jumped 6x in the last decade. We now have 10,000 med spas across the United States.
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đ¨ âGone in 60 tariffsâ â Trade War Pause. The Mastersâ menu strategy. Harryâs mammoth IPO.
Yeah, the stock market cleansed itself out of the colonoscopy. I'm doing the same.
The Best One Yet
đ¨ âGone in 60 tariffsâ â Trade War Pause. The Mastersâ menu strategy. Harryâs mammoth IPO.
Let the lost llama feed the profit puppy. Now a quick word from our sponsor.
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đ¨ âGone in 60 tariffsâ â Trade War Pause. The Mastersâ menu strategy. Harryâs mammoth IPO.
Oh, it never looks so good.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Thursday, the new Friday, May the 1st, and today's pod is the best one yet. This is T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yeti's breaking news, Jack's and my children have broken the contract. This morning, Brooks woke up at 5.50 a.m. That's not the deal. No, no, no, that's not the deal.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
It's fun being scared when you know you're in a safe environment. So, one economic theory why consumers are demanding horror year-round right now? It's ironically to provide comfort in this scary unknown economy. The big question we're wondering is whether this full-year horror bet, the boo-boom, can actually last long-term. But in the meantime, Midsummer Halloween is a profit puppy.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Oh my God, Jack, watch out behind you. Oh my God, Nick, Midsummer Night's Scream. Oh my God! That's the Shakespeare line. That's the line. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Domino's and Pizza Hut are immune from the trade war, but not from a recession. That is the pizza paradox. You're going from delivery pizza to DiGiorno pizza.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
For our second story, Waymo is partnering with Toyota to develop self-driving cars for personal ownership. It's a robo-chauffeur. And why is this happening? Well, competition from Tesla. And competition drives innovation. And our third and final story was the business of scary. It's now a year-round thing in movies, TV, and theme parks.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
We call it the boo-boom, and it reflects a new thing, economic empathy. Or Jack, what was the other term we just came up with, like on the spot? The Shakespearean one? It was so good, you just had it. A midsummer night's scream. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that works. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
First, yesterday and today, four of the magnificent seven companies are reporting earnings. Ding, ding, ding. Amazon and Apple announced today after markets closed, but Meta and Microsoft announced yesterday after markets closed. Well, over at Microsoft and Meta, everything looks solid. Both of their stocks jumped after beating earnings expectations. And second, the U.S. economy officially shrank.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
I mean, a gorilla can bench press three to four times its weight, Nick. But in the meantime, can we even do one pull-up? Not anymore. But at T-Boy, we want to ask a better question, a business version of the question. And here it is. Can 100 men out-earn one gorilla? Who can earn more money, 100 American men or one gorilla? So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and we whipped up the numbers for you.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
in the first quarter. It was the GDP report, and it showed our economy got 0.3% smaller from January through March. Yeah, it's the first GDP decline actually since 2022. It was driven by a surge in imports ahead of tariffs, but the real question will be second quarter GDP. Because the bulk of the trade war, it actually started in... April. And our third and final story is no more Mr. Nice Guy.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
ChatGPT just updated their AI because it was being too nice to us. Sam Allman actually admitted that their artificial intelligence was like being too sycophantic. It was basically sucking up to you. How so? Like, how is it being sycophantic? I did notice, like I asked a question about like researching some data point and they're like, whoa, what a great question. Nice query.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
You must be working on a great project. Right away, Mr. Nick. Right away. So besties, if you notice ChatGPT being too complimentary, it's going to stop being so starting right now. And if you notice ChatGPT giving you shade, it's because of this update we just told you about. Now time for the best fact yet.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
This one sent in by a legendary Yeti, George Matalich from Kennebunk, Maine, who I actually met in New York City at a wonderful restaurant, Charlie Bird, last week. George came up, fantastic guy. Well, apparently George listened to yesterday's show. because we told you about Barilla's pasta playlists to perfectly time the cooking length of pasta.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
And now George, a fan of pasta, points out that spaghetti and meatballs is a classic on Italian menus in the United States, but it is not actually Italian. In Italy, meatballs are usually served on their own or in soups. And pasta is eaten as a separate course, not with the meat. Now, interesting reason for this.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Between 1880 and 1920, Italian immigrants, like my family, they came to America and found meat more affordable than it was back in Italy. So they said, you know what? Meat, it doesn't have to be a main course. It can be a topping on pasta. Yeah. Or my grandma would make meatball sandwiches now that I think about this, Jack, which would probably get spat out if she served them in the home country.
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đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
If you're here, your family, we're referring to the United States, not Italy. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And if you are one of the men trying to fight a gorilla today, just remember, if you lose, at least you're earning more money than that gorilla. Doesn't matter if you can't do a pull-up.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Now, besties, the best way you can help share the pod is to tell someone HYHTBY and drop down and give us a five-star rating and review. We love reading all of them. Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Ella Jiang in San Mateo, California, who also just completed her first month of daycare. Congratulations.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Happy birthday to Carlos Benito from Houston, Texas, who is soon moving to the Pacific Northwest. And Talia Dumoulin in Oslo, Norway, is dancing and saving the world with neuroscience. and a birthday. Happy birthday to Stefan Chmielewski in Ellensburg, Washington. And Andrew Dolphins in Hickory, North Carolina is celebrating not just a fantastic birthday, but also a job promotion.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
And happy birthday to Tyler Eck, the knife sharpener in Las Vegas. Keep sharpening those knives, baby. And a special shout out to legendary bestie, Amanda Whittem, outside of Boston, who had an entire conversation about T-Boy with her Lyft driver, H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
I own stock of Disney and Amazon, and Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb and Apple. Dude, I am a top 1% snapper. That is impressive, Jack. Look at that. Can't whistle, but boy, can I snap. 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
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
All right, here it is. The average man in the United States earns $60,000 a year. Ipso facto, 100 men would earn $6 million a year. But now let's look at the primate. Zoos estimate that gorillas drive 20% of ticket sales. And the Bronx Zoo in New York City has 20 gorillas. And the Bronx Zoo generates $346 million in annual revenue. So Jack, what's the math on this one?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
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
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
20% of $356 million divided by 20 gorillas is $3.5 million per gorilla. Add it all up, and 100 men make $6 million, while a single gorilla at a zoo makes $3.5 million. So 100 dudes barely bring home more bread than one gorilla does. It looks like it doesn't even matter if 100 men could beat one gorilla in a fistfight. Humankind is evolved when it comes to earnings potential.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Although it does take 58 of us to out-earn a gorilla. And I still can't do a pull-up. Hey, Internet, we just solved the 100 men versus one gorilla question. And again, we barely won. You're welcome. Let's hit our three stories.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
The deal is we provide food, shelter, and emotional support, and the children in exchange... You give us peace and quiet in the morning. You can't wake up till 7 a.m. That's part of the deal, guys. 5.50, that is unacceptable. So yeah, Nick and I are short on sleep this morning. We don't know what to do about that, but in the meantime... We got three amazing stories for you, Jack.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
For our first story, Domino's and Pizza Hut just announced earnings bragging that they are America's tariff-proof food. So why did they both also announce that their pizza sales are down? Weird. The answer is the pizza paradox. The pizza paradox. But yet is Trade War Almanac Day 30. How tariffs are messing with the economy. Jack and I have been keeping track for you from the tariff trenches.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Basically, every day we found a different angle on the most important story of this economy. And the most important tariff story today, what is it, Jack? It's covered in lactose, meat, and... Basically 800 calories. If you round down pizza, it is the most tariff-proof meal in the United States. And in this economy, it is recession-resistant, baby. Just look at Domino's.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
They get nearly 100% of their ingredients within the United States. True story. Their cheese, their bread, their sausage, it's all made in the USA. Pause the pod. Shocker. Domino's is not importing mozzarella from Naples every week like you thought. So from a supply perspective, pizza is protected from this trade war.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Basically, your pepperoni ain't from Puglia, it's from Pittsburgh, and that is good for the economics. So pizza sales should be popping, right, Nick? Yeah, they should be popping, Jack. It's tariff-proof. But they're not. No. Domino's just announced that for the average store in the United States, their sales shrank in the first quarter.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Sales at Domino's shrank, even though Domino's just launched stuffed crust pizza. Just two days later, Pizza Hut announced their earnings, and their sales shrank in the first quarter, too. Honestly, Papa John's announces earnings next week, and we're predicting it's going to look more like Papa Ron's. In fact, Yum!
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Brands, the company that owns Pizza Hut, it's the perfect Petri dish to examine our eating trends right now. Exactly, Jack. Because Yum! Brands also owns Taco Bell, and Taco Bell's sales jumped by 9% last quarter. They also own KFC, and fried chicken sales also jumped in the first quarter.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
So we're staring at this pepperoni problem right now, and Pizza Hut is the only brand owned by Yum whose sales just shrank. 100% American-made pizza should be the unofficial food of the trade war. Why isn't it? Jack, I'm even looking at Detroit-style pizza, which I know is your favorite style of pizza. It's Chicago deep dish, but it comes in a rectangular pan.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Even Detroit-style pizza sales are down, so Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone consuming pizza? Pizza is tariff-proof. Frozen pizza is recession-proof, too. And that is the pizza paradox. Yetis, here's the surprise. Restaurant-made pizza is tariff-proof, like Jack just said, but it is still affected by tariffs indirectly.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Consumers are still eating pizza right now, but they're choosing frozen pizza. In fact, it is a recession indicator that Jack and I have seen before. 2009, the pandemic, frozen pizza sales jumped 20%. In this economy, you do want pizza, but you're sticking a tombstone in the microwave instead. Hey, Ma, let's toss in the Red Barons. Pronto. I was shopping at Costco this weekend. Yeah, Jack?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
They sell a four-pack of Kirkland frozen pizzas for 13 bucks. That's like three slices of Domino's. Domino's can't compete with that. No, no, no, they can't. And yeties, that is the pizza paradox of the trade war. Pizzas are tariff-proof. But frozen pizzas are recession-proof, too. So the trade war, it can be understood by the Mamma Mia pizza paradox.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Three fantastic tea boys for the show. What do we got, buddy? For our first story, the best way for us to explain the trade war to you today is with the pizza paradox. The pizza paradox. If Domino's Pizza is tariff-proof, then why are sales down? For our second story, this one's wild. Waymo just partnered with Toyota to make your personal car a self-driving one.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
For our second story, Waymo is partnering with Toyota to build personally owned RoboCars. Your own Waymo. Real thing. And if we get this, it will be thanks to competition from Tesla. Now, yetis, Jack and I told you a story a few months ago how Waymo, the robo-taxi, already passed Lyft for rides completed in San Francisco. Well, they just announced something even bigger.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
They're completing 250,000 fully self-driving rides every week. A quarter of a million rides every week is done in a Waymo. Well, Jack, I got something even crazier for you than that number, and that number is the growth number. Because 250,000 per week in April, is up from 200,000 per week in February. That's right.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
This robo-taxi business owned by Google called Waymo just grew 25% in just two months. Sit down, stand up, and buckle up again. But then yesterday, we got this banger. Waymo is officially partnering with Toyota to create personal self-driving cars. We repeat, not a robo-taxi. This would be a robo-car. It's the biggest partnership in cars since Aston met Martin. Ha!
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Yetis, the announcement was light on details, but this is an impressive get for Waymo. And it's impressive because Toyota is year in and year out the most profitable car company in the world. Every Toyota owner that I know absolutely loves their Toyota and will never drive another car. because they're still driving a Toyota Camry from 1992. But Jack, what would this Toyota Waymo partnership mean?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
What would it look like? In the future, you could buy a new Toyota Tacoma and it would have eyes, ears, and a brain installed by Waymo so that it can drive itself. But besties, Jack and I want to take this further. Because what this would mean, owning your own Waymo-powered Toyota, is the birth of a new industry. A personal robo-chauffeur.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Like, if you have an early flight, your Waymo would drive you to the airport while you sleep in the car. And then when your flight returns, you can summon your Waymo to pick you up at the airport. It wasn't parked in the paid parking the whole time. It was in your driveway the whole time. Now, full disclosure, we've driven Waymo many times.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
I literally just took a Waymo to the studio we're recording in today. We can tell you it's safe. And there's also data. 250,000 rides a week, and there's no accidents. Like, the accidents that are happening tend to be caused by the other driver, not by the Waymo. Which means another industry is getting involved here. Your six-year-old Susie needs to get to soccer practice?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Well, your Waymo chauffeur car in the Toyota will take her. To all the parents listening, imagine how much time could be saved if you didn't have to drop your kids off at places. What we are saying is that your car would become a form of childcare for you. because of this Waymo Toyota partnership. Oh, another point.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
In theory, your Waymo could start earning money for you by doing ride hail while you're not using it. Basically, if you own this Toyota Waymo, you would just turn on taxi mode and beep, beep, boop, boop. There you go. It'd probably partner with the Uber app. It'd start operating in the Uber network. And then when you need it, it comes back to your driveway after making like 75 bucks for you.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Sir, your Toyota Corolla drops you off at work and then picks up Rando Richard to take him somewhere like a taxi would. Yetis, your car sits idle 95% of the time. If it can drive itself, car ownership could go from a big cost to an income source. Just like homes can now generate income thanks to Airbnb. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Waymo Toyota?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Competition drives innovation. Yeti's alphabet-owned Waymo has been the undisputed leader in the autonomy industry since testing began in San Francisco back in 2021. Waymo has predictably expanded its taxi service city by city, but there's never been any discussion of personally-owned Waymos until now. Interesting timing, because Tesla is now arriving at the destination.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Because the biggest business rivalry of the next year will be Google versus Tesla. And our third and final story. Today is officially the halfway point to Halloween. And yet Halloween is everywhere already. So Jack and I will tell you the economic reason why horror has become a full year in the street. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Whoa, what a fantastic mix of stories.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Starting in June or July, 20 self-driving Tesla Model Ys will be operating as robo-taxis in Austin, Texas. They even launched a beta version of a new app at Tesla. It's called RoboTaxi and employees are using it already. Now, since Teslas are 25% of the cost to produce as a Waymo is, it is possible that Waymo loses its epic RoboTaxi lead. And that's what's driving Waymo to innovate right now.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Yes, it is. It's the threat from Tesla. The result? Well, us consumers get more options, we get better services, and more time not driving cars. Waymo versus Tesla is the heavyweight matchup of technology in 2025. We're calling it because the seed of innovation is competition. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
For our third and final story, the number one theme in the economy right now is horror. It's shocking, literally. But the business of spookiness has become a year-round industry, and we'll explain why. But first, a happy half Halloween to all those who celebrate out there. Yeah, Nick discovered it. Total luck, by the way. But today is the official halfway point. For Halloween.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Yeah, it's basically Halloween's half birthday. By the way, that means, yes, when it comes to thinking about costumes, you are already behind. You needed to start like two months ago. Nick, we are as far away from Halloween as the calendar allows. So why is horror at an all-time high across the economy? Get this, Yeti. Sinners, the vampire movie out now?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
brought in $123 million at the box office so far. It's been number one two weekends in a row, and it's the rare film where the second weekend was almost as good as the first. Okay, Jack, next up, 28 years later, the third film in the zombie trilogy comes out in June. You know what we're talking about. Wow. Like that kind of thing? Yeah, yeah.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
It's like the first zombie movie, and I watched the trailer. It's horrifying. I started watching it last night. I turned it off. Well, that comes to theater on June 20th. Add it all up, and already, overall, 12% of movie tickets sold this year were to horror films. That's the second highest share in cinema history. And Jack, we almost forgot the number one show on TV right now. What is it?
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
The Last of Us. Have you seen episode two yet? It was wild. Not in a mental state to watch a zombie-themed show. It was the Battle of Winterfell, but in Jackson Hole. I don't need to know. I'm already concerned. Yeti's, Universal, Sony, Warner Brothers, they are all launching more horror movies this year than last year. Midsommar Ghosts. Sounds like a Shakespeare play to me.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
It's actually just a business trend. Now, Yetis, Jack and I have been studying this for a few weeks now, and we call this phenomenon the boo-boom. Like the boo-boom. Yeah, that kind of boo. Because year-round horror is in more than just the movie industry these days. Bloomberg just did a deep dive on the theme park industry. Because horror theme parks... are now a 12-month-a-year business.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
The new $7 billion epic universe down in Orlando, it opens this month, and they've got a permanent spooky section to the place. They have a permanent universe, actually. It's called the Dark Universe, and it features a Frankenstein roller coaster. Now, that is down in Florida, but up in Las Vegas, they're opening a new universal horror Unleashed in August.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Love the mix today, Jack. The number one meme that's dividing the internet right now, what is it, Nick? Jack, it is 100 men versus one gorilla. The whole internet is wondering, can 100 men beat one gorilla in a fight? a lot of debate out there. A lot of guys, like our buddy Timmy, think they can take down a big ape. True story.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
It has an exorcist experience in a Texas chainsaw massacre ride. So basically, you could spend Memorial Day on a murder-themed roller coaster pretty soon. Even Disney is getting freaky neck. They're opening a villain-themed show this month in Orlando with Cruella and all the scary villains from all the Disney movies. Because Cruella is scary.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Basically, the new business model out there is for you to wet your pants any month you choose, any day of the year, baby. If peeing your pants is cool. We're Miles Davis. Yeti's Halloween. It is no longer seasonal. There is year-round demand for spooky. So, Jack, I got to ask, what's the takeaway for all our buddies? who are really scared. New thing, economic empathy. Economic empathy.
The Best One Yet
đ âI own a Waymoâ â Toyotaâs self-driving deal. Dominoâs pizza paradox. The Year-Round Horror Economy.
Yetis, the way people feel in an economy, it actually transcends into what we connect with and what we buy. The products we surround ourselves with can reflect our economic vibe. There's actually an article we found in Psychology Today that experiencing emotions like fear when you're watching a film actually helps you cope with real life stress. Because we've all felt it.
The Best One Yet
đ Juicy Couture Tracksuit: How Cozy-Core Went Viral
From Wondery and At Will Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to, like, get other people to do it. and the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats.
The Best One Yet
đ Juicy Couture Tracksuit: How Cozy-Core Went Viral
Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Get started with your free trial at wondery.com slash plus.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Yet is Nick and Jack here with you. Today, we're serving up an episode of The Best Idea Yet. Our weekly deep dive series where we cover the incredible stories behind the most viral products of all time. Right now, we're still on vacation, but our feed is not. So here's what we got for you. Sit back and enjoy the wild story of Air Jordan.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Nick, my Mariano glove and your Mark Messier helmet, those were 90s products, but neither would have existed without the shoe that broke the mold from a decade earlier, the original 1985 Air Jordans. The phenomenon that is Air Jordan transformed the sports apparel industry in so many ways that we take for granted today. I mean, marketing, celebrity endorsements, team branded merchandise.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, MJ, he glances across at his mom and she looks back at him. She holds up her hand and she uses her outstretched finger to paint an oversized smile across her face. And the message is clear. Mikey, cheer up. Jordan rolls his eyes and he turns like, look out the window again. But he can't help smiling at his mom's goofy little mind. He only got on the plane because of her in the first place.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
You may not like it, she told him, but you are going to get on that plane and you are going to listen. And through his entire life, Michael's learned that she's usually right and that she always has his best interests at heart. Still, MJ would rather be back at home training on the court than trying to get comfortable with Biscoff cookie crumbs all over his shirt.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, Yetis, you know Michael Jordan's pro career. But what about before he turned pro? That's the moment we're at in this story. Here's his LinkedIn athlete resume before the NBA. What are you going to endorse him for, Jack? Michael started out shooting hoops in the backyard with his brothers. He didn't make varsity until junior year.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Then, working harder than anyone else, he averaged 25 points per game and won a scholarship to North Carolina, where he made the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA championship game. You know, the play that Sonny Vaccaro was watching over and over again on that VHS. Oh, yeah, I know. He was also named the NCAA College Player of the Year in 1984. Now, at this point, he is not a household name yet.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
But as Hoops Prospects goes, he is hot. And Michael is also on the verge of signing a $100,000 per year sponsorship deal with Adidas. which happens to be MJ's favorite sneakers. Get this, Michael Jordan never even put on a pair of Nikes in his entire life at this point. He's on Nike's corporate airplane, but he's never touched Nike shoes. He was a three-stripe guy through and through.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Good luck trying to change his mind. But there is one person who pushed him to take this surprise meeting with Nike, Mrs. Dolores Jordan. Mikey's mom had a different perspective, that he should hear every offer before committing to any deal. Oh, mom, fine, I'll go to the million dollar shoe meeting. Well, two hours later, that plane, it finally lands.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And a cool black limo is waiting to whisk Michael and his entourage over to Nike headquarters. For Michael, this reeks of desperation. He's not impressed. Sonny Vaccaro and Rob Strasser, they can see the disdain in his face when they go up to greet him as the limo pulls around to Nike HQ. Okay, now not everyone agrees on how that epic meeting went down, but one thing is certain.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
This was a high-stakes meeting for Nike. In the movie, it's portrayed as awkward, and it almost ends in disaster before Vaccaro gives a stirring, off-the-cuff speech about why Nike was the best choice for MJ. But Jack, what actually happened outside of Hollywood for that movie scene? That's disputed to say the least. Yeah.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Both Michael Jordan and Phil Knight, they say that Vaccaro exaggerates his role in closing the deal. But the important thing is what Nike offered. Now this is where things get wild. Half a million dollars per year for five years. That blew all the other offers right out of the water. That is an unprecedented sum in the history of athletics.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
That is $7.33 million in today's money and three times more than any of the next biggest NBA sneaker sponsorship deals at the time. Now stay with us, Yetis, because here comes the truly transformative part of the deal. And it's largely thanks to his mom, Dolores Jordan, and his agent, David Falk. because those two were thinking long-term, and they pushed for royalties.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It has all been affected by the groundbreaking deal at the heart of today's story. Yo, Mike, what makes you the best player in the universe? Money's gotta be the shoes. Since their initial release, there have been 39 editions of Air Jordan sneakers, plus re-releases of retro classics from the line.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, nobody believed in Michael more than his mom did, so she got Nike to agree to give her son a 5% cut of every sneaker sold under his brand. And this part of the deal, this part was really unheard of. This structure was unprecedented, and it transformed the entire landscape of sponsorship deals forever. Never before had an athlete had the opportunity for upside. Yeah.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
They were getting paid what they were paid, no matter what. There was no chance that if the thing went well, they could get paid even more. MJ was getting equity like Andreessen Horwitz. And this would also net Michael Jordan an eye-popping $1.5 billion. Yes, that is billion with a B, baby. Between 1986 and 2023. And still today, what's the crazy part about this deal, Jack?
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
That little carrot that Michael's mom negotiated for him, it's still valid. So each time a Jordan product is sold, 5% of that sale goes directly to Michael Jordan's bank account. Yeah. If you want to know why every photo you see of Jordan today is with a cigar, it's because of this little detail in that contract. And this is a prime example of how salaries are stable, but equity is exciting.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
If you're prepared to bet on yourself and risk getting nothing, then you could end up with huge upside by hitching your fortune to the success of a product or a company. Then Jack, there's another great example of how equity is exciting, but salaries are stable with like, I know your favorite thing. The little project called Star Wars.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
George Lucas believed his Jedi had huge commercial potential, so he accepted tiny upfront fees from movie distributors so he could keep full ownership of the Force. And that equity turned out to be real exciting for George, netting him billions in when he eventually sold all the IP to Disney.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It's no guarantee that equity turns into billions, but when it works, it works big, whether it's Star Wars or Michael Jordan. And you cannot overstate the role that Michael Jordan's mom played in making this deal. In fact, when Ben Affleck met with Michael Jordan to get his blessing for the air movie,
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
One of Michael Jordan's few stipulations was that they would highlight the role his mother played. And he also, no joke, get this, he insisted that his mom be played by the legendary Oscar-winning actor, Viola Davis. But aside from the money that they were offering, Nike spun the fact that they weren't as big as Adidas or Converse as an advantage. They turned a weakness into a strength. Yes.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Michael Jordan would be their one and only star, not just another name on the roster. Now that's actually a smart negotiated strategy. They're appealing to Michael's ego. Good move. Few things can convince the other side to agree with you like playing to their vanity, whether it's a million dollar shoe deal or your internship salary discussion.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And one last point, when you're making a new marketing play against established interests, go big or go home, Nike took option one. Yeah, they really did. And the risk for Nike was huge because on top of what they were paying Michael, Nike was committed to spending millions more on promotions and advertising and of course, production of this brand new shoe that has not even been made yet.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
In fact, get this, an incredible 25% of sneaker owners in the United States own a pair of Air Jordans. The Jordan brand revenue for 2023 was $7 billion, and it was the strongest performer in all of Nike's brand portfolio. I mean, not too shabby for a Sprinkle on a little more context for us, please. That makes Air Jordan bigger than Ralph Lauren, Hyatt Hotels, or Mattel.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
But Nike did put some protection for themselves into this contract. Yeah, interesting fine print here, Yetis. But Michael, he only gets paid if he fulfills at least one of these insanely big accomplishments in his first year. Be NBA Rookie of the Year, average 20 points per game, be an All-Star, or sell $4 million of sneakers. Those are four extremely ambitious goals.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
The fact that Michael agreed to this agreement speaks to his self-confidence. He's a 21-year-old kid about to embark on an NBA career. On top of all that pressure, he also gives himself a contract where he doesn't get fully paid unless he performs. But remember, this deal, it wasn't signed on the same day as that meeting at Nike headquarters. It actually took weeks of back and forth talks.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
In fact, Michael was still holding out for a deal with Adidas. He even told Adidas that he would sign with them instead of Nike if they matched Nike's deal. But Adidas refused. Now, there's one thing we're missing from this scene, Nick. In fact, it's the most important part of the entire story. It's why we're doing this episode in the first place. The shoes!
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Don't just picture this scene, smell this scene. Because Strasser and Sonny Vaccaro are out of their element. They're in a workshop in the basement of Nike headquarters with rubber pipes and electrical wires snaking across the walls. In the center of that room, there's a square design table. Its glass surface is glowing with fluorescent lighting. and on the table is a shoe-shaped mass.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
A black cloth is draped over it, and it smells like rubber, leather, and like a hint of sweaty feet. On the other side of the table stands Peter Moore, Nike's balding 40-year-old creative director, and he's wearing a gray turtleneck and a wide smile. With a flourish, Moore whips away the black cloth to reveal a single basketball sneaker. Jack, what are we staring at right now?
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
These are red, white, and black high-top sneakers. And as the first Air Jordans, it matches the color of the NBA team that drafted Michael, the Chicago Bulls. Now, Moore asked Jordan to contribute to the shoe's design, but Jordan... He didn't really show much interest in it, shockingly. I mean, I guess MJ's a player. He's not Jimmy Choo.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
All he said was that he wanted something low to the ground because Michael wanted to feel the court under his feet. Hmm, not a lot to go on, Mike. No, it's not, man. No, it's not. Well, the shoes, they did have some sweet features, though, like air pockets in the soles. And don't sleep on the Air Jordan wings on the ankle of the shoe.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
This is a black logo with a basketball between two wings with the words Air Jordan written above it.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
interesting detail yetis but peter moore actually came up with this entire original air jordan brand theme on a flight he's on an airplane and he saw one of those airline pilot badges that like the flight attendants and the captains wear like the ones they give kids when they're on a delta flight totally and the reason you give it to kids too is it has a brand equity those flying logos like there is value way outside the airplane industry
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
He gives the shoes their own logo, which was a statement of intent that the Air Jordan brand was a big deal. So let's recap here, Nick. Nike has spent their entire endorsement budget on a single player who has yet to step foot on an NBA court. They've given him an unprecedented cut of future sales, and they've designed a signature shoe for him.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
So what is Michael's reaction to this Herculean effort? Jack, Michael is seeing all this and he is not happy. In fact, Michael said the shoes were the devil's colors. Apparently, Michael wanted these shoes to be blue like his University of North Carolina college team. But Nike ignored his request.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And get this, Air Jordan sales are, and I hate to say this because I wore them just the other day to our podcast studio, 28 times bigger than all birds. The Air Jordan name was created to win Nike a place in the hearts, the minds, and the shoe racks of basketball fans. Success would be an understatement. In the 2022-2023 basketball season, 65% of NBA players wore Nike.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Yeah, although they'd later add a dozen or so more color schemes or colorways for the sneakerheads out there. But at this point, MJ was signed up. So when his rookie season starts in October of that year, he wore the devil's shoes on the court.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It's November 1984, two weeks since Michael Jordan made his NBA debut. And already, MJ is the hottest star of the season. Now, with the Bulls facing the Knicks at MSG, he's about to take Jordan mania to new heights. The garden erupts as 19,000 people leap from their seats. Even the New Yorkers in the crowd, they just can't resist MJ, the enchanting guy. Jordan, Jordan, Jordan.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It takes a full minute for things to settle down. It's already clear this big Nike gamble is paying off, right, man? But there was a big problem, wasn't there? Oh, there was one huge problem. Yeah, the shoes, they were illegal. More specifically, the shoes were illegally too colorful for the NBA. Yeah, can you please whip out the NBA's official rule book and go to legislation number 32343529.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
NBA rules state that any shoes worn on the court must be at least 51% white. And that meant that NJ would be fined $5,000 for each game that he wore his new signature Nikes. Yetis, these shoes, they weren't due to go on sale until April of 1985. So if Jordan stopped wearing them at this point, that would have been five months of hype lost. And that's the kind of hype that money can't buy.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Or can it? This, Yetis. is where we come to one of the most masterful marketing moves in history. Nike could have followed the rules and changed out the shoes that Michael wore, compromising their vision and avoiding that $5,000 per game fine. But if they had done that, Air Jordans may have never been a huge hit.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Michael Jordan may have turned to Adidas, and the world would be robbed of this iconic brand and all of its influences. More importantly, maybe we would never have gotten Space Jam or Space Jam 2. But luckily, Nike told Jordan this. They said, Mike, keep wearing those shoes and we'll keep paying the fines.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Then they doubled down with a commercial that played into the renegade image that Nike had just created. And they drummed up even more demand for their shoes.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, Nike's strategy here, it's actually very calculated, literally, because the NBA wasn't going to ban the shoes. They were just going to fine the shoes. So essentially, Nike categorized this fine as a cost of doing business. Or here's another way to think of it. The fines were a marketing expense. It's a great example how marketing spending does not have to be traditional at all.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Like we say, marketing is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for. And according to controversy, that certainly worked for Nike with the Air Jordans. Even Nike was not prepared for how effective this wild, pay the NBA fine strategy would actually be.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Because when they launched Air Jordans for sale to the general public on the 1st of April 1985 for $64.99, they were expecting to ship 100,000 pairs in their first year. But Jack, how many... Air Jordans did Nike actually ship. They sold one and a half million pairs in the first six weeks. Nike's projections were for $3 million in sales in the first year.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It's Nike's biggest bet they ever took that paid off more than anyone could have imagined. Then after this episode, because we think you'll love this episode, go subscribe to The Best Idea Yet wherever you get your podcasts. You can search for it in whatever podcast app you're using right now. We also put a link in the episode description to make it easy for you.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
They actually sold a staggering $126 million of the Air Jordan 1s. They underestimated sales by like 50 times. Nike stock nearly doubled that year thanks to this one sneaker, which the NBA deemed illegal. So Air Jordans not only made Nike a serious contender in the basketball market, but they also gave the company breakout success as general everyday sneakers and fashion icons.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
They dunked on their next biggest competitor because Adidas has only 11% of NBA players. And it's all thanks to a deal struck in the early 80s between a soon-to-be NBA rookie on the rise named Michael Jordan and a struggling shoemaker named Nike. A a deal that almost never happened, a shoe that was initially banned by the NBA, and a partnership that teetered on the edge of collapse more than once.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, Nike's weren't just for runners. They were going toe to toe with Adidas and Converse on the courts, in the streets, and in the clubs. And remember those conditions that Nike built into that crazy unprecedented contract with MJ? He smashed all of them. That's right. MJ won rookie of the year. He averaged 28.2 points per game.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
He was named an all-star to the NBA, and he sold not $4 million worth of sneakers, but $126 million worth of sneakers in that very first year. So Nike was saved. Uh, not exactly. Because in the fickle world of fashion, Nike knew they had to get to work on their next iteration of Air Jordans. But rather than build on the momentum, the Air Jordan 2 shoe nearly tanked the entire line.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
The devil resurrected. The high-end styling with the faux lizard leather, it fell flat. The price tag of $100 for a shoe, or $280 in today's money, that put these Air Jordan 2s out of reach of many fans. Nike misjudged the customer. And at the same time, Nike had just released their new Air Max line, which sold for just $74. And those shoes had a huge marketing push behind them.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
So their success ate into the potential sales of the new Air Jordans. This is why when you have multiple brands, you got to keep them separate. We call it cousins versus siblings. Treat your brands like siblings and they'll poke each other in the eye and fight all the way to the store. Instead, treat them like cousins. They're a little better behaved. They play better together.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
There's a little distance between the two. Those Air Jordan 2s, they got beat up on badly. Sales were disappointing, so much so that designer Peter Moore and marketing guy Rob Strasser jumped ship to start their own company separate from Nike. And get this, they wanted to poach Michael Jordan. Michael's mother would not approve of this behavior. No, no, she wouldn't, Jack.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Well, Phil Knight, he knew that this whole situation would be a disaster, and he had to do something drastic to save that relationship with MJ, reinvigorate the Air Jordan brand, and keep up the momentum of Nike's recovery. It was time to go back to the drawing board with a new shoe and a new designer. Breathe in, Phil. Breathe out.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Well, just two short years after the release of the first Air Jordan, Nike is once again back in crisis mode. In the summer of 1987, the Air Jordan 2s were a flop. Two key people, the chief designer, Peter Moore, and the marketing director, Rob Strasser, they left Nike. And Nike star signing, Michael Jordan, he is not happy with his signature shoes. So the pressure is on.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And that's when we get to meet a guy named Tinker Hatfield. Is he going to tinker with the shoe? I think he literally tinkers with the shoe. It's great when your name is the verb of your occupation, Jack. Nothing better than that. What's fascinating about Tinker is that he's an architect by training. And Tinker's first shoe at Nike, the Air Max, released in March 1987, was an astounding success.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
That's an incredible debut shoe for your resume. Now, for the Air Jordan 3, Tinker tinkered and approached this project the same way an architect approaches building a house, by asking questions. An architect asks the future inhabitants what they need and desire from their new home. He is trying to become the Frank Lloyd Wright of feet.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
This is where the genius of Tinker Hatfield comes into full force. In the unveiling meeting, he asked Michael to think back to their early conversations about the design. He then pulls out his sketches of the new design. This makes it crystal clear to MJ that Hatfield was listening. It made Michael feel like the most important guy in the process. And guess what? He was.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And as a result of this conversation, we get the beautiful Air Jordan 3 shoe. And you know what? It's all there. This is the quintessential Air Jordan. The mid-top style, the exposed air bubble, even the elephant print detailing, it's all here. Because if Disney's Dumbo taught us anything, it's that elephants can fly. Here's what Jack and I find fascinating about this product.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
This story is so compelling, it was turned into a Hollywood movie with Ben Affleck, Viola Davis, and Matt Damon. Air. It was an amazing flick I watched on the airplane. Great airplane movie. But we're going to be forging our own path to uncover the business takeaways from the most expensive endorsement deal of all time, but one that still paid for itself a hundred times over.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
The most significant part of the company behind it is not on the shoe. The side of the shoe has no swoosh. The brand, the image that made Nike recognizable worldwide has been relegated to the back of the shoe. Instead of a giant swoosh, there's a new logo. An Air Jordan logo. THE Air Jordan logo. The Jumpman has arrived.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
A silhouette of Michael Jordan with his legs stretched out executing a trademark gravity-defying jump as he reaches for the rim with his basketball in his hand. I mean, Jack, it is like Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. It is perfect in every sense of balance and angle, spiritual geometry. There is a symmetry to this logo that has been reserved for the highest echelons of design.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
I feel what you're saying, Nick. Nowadays, the Jumpman is on the shoes, the clothing, it's on posters, it's in commercials. And if you really feel it, even on tattoos on your bicep. This is where that logo started with the Michael Jordan 3s. And it stressed how the Jordan line was its own thing, separate to general Nike branding.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, Hatfield, he knew that MJ was fully on board when he started spitballing ideas for the different colorways and this potential for the new Jumpman logo. MJ was picturing not just the AJ3, but an entire future with Nike. Remember, before walking into this meeting, Michael was just about done with Nike. Hats off to Tinker Hatfield for the smart play here.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
He understood that a lot of Michael's discontent from Nike was that they weren't listening to him. The Air Jordan 3s are the first shoes that truly felt like his own. And getting MJ back on the team is a double win for Nike because they get more authenticity in the relationship and they get Jordan invested, not just financially, but emotionally in seeing the product succeed.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
So the Air Jordan 3s saved Nike again. Now, in a big way, we see the financial results. Jack, can you whip out that annual report from Nike that came out the year we were born, 1988? Nike's revenue blew through the billion dollar mark for the first time in 1988. $1.2 billion. Thanks largely to those Air Jordan 3s. And Nike stock topped $1 billion for the first time ever.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Once again, thanks to an Air Jordan shoe. Now, Jack, growing up in New York City, there is one consistent thing from the Knicks besides not winning championships. And that consistency is Spike Lee, who's been sitting courtside from John Starks to Alan Houston till insanity.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And in 1988, the director had funded his first joint, the movie She's Gotta Have It, by maxing out his credit cards and selling socks on street corners. Wow. So when he first got the call from Nike offering $50,000 to do an ad with Michael Jordan, he thought it was a scam. But thankfully for Spike Lee, it was not a scam. Do you know how I get up for my game? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know?
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
That's right. Air Jordan, Air Jordan, Air Jordan. It's got to be the shoes. Yeah. Those ads were definitely a touchpoint of sneaker culture. And they're also important because they showcase Michael Jordan's charisma, his acting ability, and his humor. Other brands would zero in on this to great effect, like Gatorade with the classic Be Like Mike TV commercials.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And we're going to explore why you should never, ever, ever settle for a standard deal if you want a big payday. And why sibling rivalry can sink even the strongest brands. Jack, are you laced up and taped up on those ankles, man? Let's go, Nick. It's game time. This is why Air Jordans is the best idea yet. From Wondery and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martell. And I'm Jack Kravici-Kramer.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And they set Michael up for his starring role in Space Jam. Now, the Air Jordan 3s were where the concept of sneakers as fashion accessory really took off. But this Nike deal with MJ was also foundational to something far bigger and impactful. Celebrity endorsement deals. Sure, celebrity endorsements existed before MJ ever slipped on his first pair of Nikes.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
But after Michael Jordan, everything changed. Revenue sharing became a key part of the biggest endorsement deals. Just like Mike's mom wanted 5% for Michael, every player's mom started demanding cuts for their children as well. Mom, get in here. Bring the lawyers.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Today, we see it in LeBron James' $1 billion deal with Nike, Steph Curry's deal with Under Armour, and Lionel Messi's recent deal with Inter Miami. Air Jordans also paved the way for celebrity apparel. Think Beyonce's Ivy Park clothing line or Kanye's Yeezy with Adidas. Celebrities get a huge revenue share, plus the kudos of designing their own clothing.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
and the brands, they get a main line to the celebrity's fans. But this MJ and Nike deal is still the platinum standard, both for how much it earned and for how long it lasted. In 2023, Air Jordan revenue was $6.6 billion. That's more revenue for just Air Jordan than all of Ralph Lauren, all of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and all of Mattel. And on top of it,
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Michael's earning as much as $400 million a year on that $6.6 billion in Air Jordan revenue. Nike has also opened retail stores dedicated to the Jordan brand under the name World of Flight, with branches in Milan, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and soon, the first US branch in Philadelphia. What does Chicago got to do to get a break?
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Well, as Alex Convery, the air screenwriter, told Time magazine, it's hard to imagine now a world where there was skepticism about how well Michael Jordan would transition into the NBA or a world in which Nike was destined to be just a running apparel company. The Michael Jordan deal changed everything in every industry.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Phil Knight continued as the Nike CEO until 2004 before stepping down to focus on philanthropy. His net worth stands today around $40 billion. As for Michael Jordan, if you are a Knicks fan, you should plug your ears now. He became a six-time NBA champion, earning five MVP awards and 14 All-Star selections.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
He revolutionized the sport with his scoring ability, his athleticism, and drive to win, and he became a global icon, full stop. He's currently the richest athlete in the world, with inflation-adjusted earnings totaling $3.8 billion. Jack, who's even second to that? And what do they got?
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It's Tiger Woods, who actually signed a not that different deal than Michael Jordan did with Nike, thanks to the precedent that Michael set. But how far is Tiger behind Jordan? Over a billion dollars less. And you know what, Jack, doesn't get enough cultural or business recognition. You know, no one wore an earring quite like Michael Jordan did.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
It feels like MJ kind of missed out on a Tiffany's endorsement deal, too. Yeah, or Nike missed out on a new jewelry line. I mean, they weren't Air Jordans. Could have been Air Jordans. Yetis, you can now sit down in your seats.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
We learned how Nike spent more than any other company had ever spent on an athlete, how Nike took a giant risk on a rookie, and how it all paid off more than anyone could have ever imagined. And we also saw how Michael bet on himself to make this deal work. So Jack, what are your takeaways from our time on the court with Nike Air Jordans? Salaries are stable, but equity is exciting.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Yet is if stability is your priority, then a salary is for you. It's reliable. It's secure. It's easy to sleep at night. But if you're looking for big upside and you're in a position where a risk is acceptable, then you should look for equity instead of a salary.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Maybe that means accepting stock instead of cash from your company or signing a deal that has big potential instead of smaller guaranteed money. Or jacking founding a company instead of working for a company. When we sold our startup, we did this. We accepted more equity instead of cash. And then we had to work crazy hours to make that equity worth something. But we were young.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
We took a risk together and the company we took equity from eventually IPO'd. And the rest is history. Salaries are stable, but equity is exciting. And Eric, what's your takeaway? So my takeaway for the Air Jordans, Jack, is that the best advice for companies with multiple brands is to be cousins, not siblings. Yes. Look, we saw the dangers early on in the Air Jordan story.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers that brought them to life.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
When you have brands that operate in the same space under one roof, it is all too easy for one of those brands to eat the other one's lunch. Nike learned from this mistake by making the Air Jordan brand more standalone with its own logo and more recently, its own stores. Abercrombie is another example of this. It also owns the Hollister brand.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And Abercrombie has found that right balance of being similar enough to be related but differentiated enough to not be duplicative. When it comes to multiple brands, it's best for them to be cousins, not siblings. Oh, Jack, one more takeaway I just thought of. You should always have your mom in your salary negotiations. There's no better representative. Okay. What's the next part of the show?
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Oh, well, Jack, it's actually our favorite part of the show. The best facts yet. All the best tidbits and factoids we couldn't fit into the story, but we couldn't leave you without. Lace them up. What do we got, man? In July 2003, Nike paid around $305 million to acquire Converse. Oh! Larry Bird and Magic Johnson's old shoe company. They put an end to the rivalry once and for all.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
If you can't beat them, well, actually they did beat them, but then they bought them. In 1997, Nike started selling Air Jordans in China. And soon after, a poll ranked MJ as the second most famous American in China behind Thomas Edison. Which actually, I don't know what I'm more impressed by. Thomas Edison being number one or Michael Jordan being number two.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
By 2021, the greater China region represents almost 20% of Nike's global sales. All right, Jack, we got a fact on Nike's deals and a fact on Nike abroad. What about Nike in the secondary market? The most expensive sneaker auction sale ever was $8 million. $32,800 in February 2024 for six unpaired individual Air Jordan sneakers. It's known as the Dynasty Collection.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And that is why Nike's Air Jordans is the best idea yet. Coming up on the next episode of The Best Idea Yet, we introduce you to a shadowy figure called the Pez Outlaw. That's right. We're bringing you the sweet story of the Pez Dispenser. Yetis, Nick and Jack here back with you in the studio. That was our episode on Air Jordans. Nike's Air Jordans.
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The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And if you want to listen to more episodes of The Best Idea Yet, just subscribe or follow the show wherever you get your pods. We put a link in the episode description to make it easy for you. New episodes of this series, they drop every Tuesday, 45 minutes each, and they're on the products you're obsessed with. We did one on Birkenstocks. We did it on the Happy Meal, Sriracha, Polaroid cameras.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
We got a bunch of them now. Meantime, share this episode with a buddy and give our show a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify to help us grow the show. The Best Idea Yet is a production of Wondery, hosted by me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Kravica-Kramer. If you know the best idea yet, leave it here in the comments. We want to hear it. Oh, and by the way, we'd love your rating and review.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Yeah, the best way you can help grow the best idea yet is to drop down and give us a five-star rating, a review, and follow the show. Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gauthier. Matt Wise is our producer. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan, and Taylor Sniffen is our managing producer. H. Conley is our associate producer and researcher.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
This episode was written and produced by Adam Skuse. We used many sources in our research. A few that were essential for this episode were Kix, The Great American Story of Sneakers by Nicholas Smith, Shoe Dog, Personal Favorite by Phil Knight, and the archive of the Willamette Week newspaper out of Portland, Oregon. Sound design and mixing by Kelly Kramarik. Fact-checking by Molly Artwick.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Music supervision by Scott Velasquez and Jolina Garcia for Freesound Sync. Our theme song is Got That Feelin' Again by Black Lack. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martell, and me, Jack Ravici-Kramer. Executive producers are Dave Easton, Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Erin O'Flaherty, and Marshall Louis for Wondery.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
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
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Nike's CEO Phil Knight stands at the open window of his spacious wood-paneled office. His eyes are closed, but the rest of his senses are on high alert. It's May 1984, and as the light spring breeze strikes his face, he takes some deep, controlled breaths.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Each one carries the calming fragrance of cottonwood trees that surround the concrete and glass Nike campus in the sleepy suburb of Beaverton, Oregon. I am water... I am air. Knight silently repeats to himself. Phil was known to drop some Eastern philosophy from time to time. Yeah, he was. It's actually a passion he picked up on a trip to Japan hiking Mount Fuji 20 years before that.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
In fact, it was the same trip that inspired him to start importing Japanese running shoes. Yeah, before Nike was Nike, it was Blue Ribbon. Blue Ribbon? In 1971, Blue Ribbon became Nike. But here's the wildest part. Phil Knight very nearly named his company Dimension 6. Dimension 6 sounds like a movie Vin Diesel would pass on, Jack.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
So Jack, let's hit Nike Air Jordans, the best idea yet. As a child, I actually whipped up a will for myself. Legally binding? Well, Tuck's getting my M&Ms. Dude, this is 11-year-old me. Yeah, this is impressive. I'm not sure I got a notary. So I had like seven assets, a few baseball cards, a blankie. Classics. But my most cherished asset was my Mariano Rivera baseball glove.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Well, in 1971, Nike began making its own shoes instead of just importing them from Japan. And just two years later, it was making over $28 million in revenue on those shoes, or over $200 million in revenue in today's money. Now, Nike at the time was primarily known as a running shoe. By 1984, their famous swoosh logo appeared on half of all running shoes sold in America.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Nike had half the running shoe market. But they'd also expanded into other sports, apparel and accessories, with annual revenue closing in on $1 billion. I mean, no idea what took them so long to get into lacrosse, but that's a story for another project. Not bad for a business Phil started by selling shoes from the trunk of his car at track meets.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
But right now in our story, it's 1984, and Phil needs all the zen he can get. Since Phil took the company public in the 1980s, spending at Nike has bloated, and new product lines have just tanked. Over on Wall Street, Nike stock is looking more like your aunt's old Skechers. Nike also missed out on the new craze for aerobics that took over the nation thanks to Jane Fonda's workout tapes. Ha ha ha!
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Nike was feeling the burn in a bad way, and no amount of spandex could save their earnings. In fact, things got so bad at Nike in 1984 that they axed 10% of their staff, around 400 people, and the company posted its first ever quarterly loss. The early 1980s, bad time for hair. Worst time for Nike. But the actual problem crushing Nike, it was still seen as a shoe for runners.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
They needed to break into other sports to keep their momentum. And there was one sport in particular that Phil really, really, really wanted to crack. Not lacrosse. Oh my God, you're breaking my heart, man. Sorry, Nick, but it wasn't lacrosse, just like it wasn't badminton and it wasn't horseshoes either. All right, Yetis, you know what it was? It was basketball. Basketball.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
The one sport where the shoes make more noise on the court than the players do. Now, Nike, they'd already tried to grow their slice of the basketball pie. Nike had been paying college teams to wear their Nike shoes, but players that made it through to the NBA, they tended to drop Nikes in favor of Nike's top competitors. Converse and Adidas. Why?
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Because Converse and Adidas are what the cool kids wear. Converse had a market share of 54%, and it was worn by legends like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who Converse paid handsomely up to $100,000 a year to wear those Converses. $100,000 for Bird and Magic to wear Converses. That's only about $300,000 in today's money. But these were huge deals for that era.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Now, Adidas lagged behind Converse with one third of the basketball market. But Adidas did have the cool factor because rappers and breakdancers loved rapping and breakdancing in Adidas. Those shell toes on Adidas are an absolute classic still today. But then there was Nike, with only 17% share of the basketball market. Nike, it was stuck on the bench.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And if there's one thing that Phil Knight cannot stand in this world, it is being sidelined. Phil needed to tap into the old Nike magic that made the upstart company take off against the odds. He needed to come up with an audacious new play, one that would expose his competition as lumbering has-beens.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Meanwhile, in a darkened room on the ground floor of Nike headquarters, a guy named Sonny Vaccaro stares at a flickering screen. His face is a combination of awe and concentration. A basketball game is frozen amid the shimmering static of a paused VHS tape. For the 20th time in a row, he rewinds a few seconds and then hits play. His focus is on an unassuming player.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
The game is the 1982 NCAA Championship between North Carolina and Georgetown. And that player's name is Michael Jordan. Now, Sonny was Nike's guy when it came to basketball. He's the guy. He previously set up the first All-Star High School League, a proven ground for the NBA's biggest names.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And he built up an impressive roster of college coaches who, in return for a fee, made sure their teams wore Nikes on the court. But at this point in 1984, Sonny's job is actually on the line. His deals with college coaches, they just haven't converted into a big share of the hoops market. So Sonny is searching this tape archive for prospects to help turn around his and Nike's fortunes.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
What he's seeing in Michael Jordan is opening his mind to even bigger possibilities. With just 15 seconds left, North Carolina has the ball and they need a basket to win the game. Does North Carolina give the ball to the team's leading scorer, the first team All-American and soon to be number one NBA draft pick James Worthy? No. North Carolina gives the ball to a freshman, Michael Jordan.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Oh, well, that's an institution, Jack. I mean, you could retire on that. It was the mitt Mariano wore on the mound for all those World Series in the 90s. And I know why you bought that mitt, Jack. And it wasn't for the smell, and it wasn't for the fit, was it? It's because it was Mariano's glove. Yeah.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And as cool as the other side of the pillow, he drains a basket to win the game. The more Sonny watches and rewatches and rewatches it, the more impressed he becomes. Not so much by the shot itself, but by Jordan's confidence and his poise at such a crucial moment. This kid is only 19 years old. He's a teenager. It's the kind of relaxed self-assuredness you only see in the greatest players.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And a great untapped player is exactly what Sonny needs right now. In fact, Sonny believes that Nike needs to get Michael Jordan at all costs. And he's prepared to bet his reputation, his whole marketing budget, and Nike's entire basketball division on this one 19-year-old college freshman. So it's August, and it's the annual gathering of Nike's top management.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
At the head of the conference table sits Phil Knight. He's heard Sonny Vaccaro make the pitch for Jordan multiple, multiple, multiple times. And Phil Knight, he has thoughts. Honestly, he's probably doing his breathing exercises, Jack. But now, Phil Knight wants to let the rest of his trusted team weigh in to this big decision. Sonny, he's pushing for Nike to go all in on Jordan.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
How big is all in? He wants Nike to spend its entire basketball sponsorship budget for the next five years on this one dude. That is two and a half million dollars all going to MJ. They want to make MJ their star. Remember the very biggest basketball stars, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird? They were getting $100,000 per year, tops.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
They're talking about five times more than that for a guy who's never stepped foot on the basketball court in the NBA. And even the most promising prospects, they go bust all the time. One twisted ankle could erase Nike's $2.5 million investment. But with Nike's finances on the ropes, signing Jordan might be the last desperate hurrah of a dying company.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
This is exactly the kind of wild gambit that Nike's marketing director, Rob Strasser, lived for. Strasser was Nike's five-star general. They actually nicknamed this guy Rolling Thunder, a loud, brash dealmaker. He's the kind of guy who just never backed down. And he's the kind of guy whose voice you could hear bellowing all the way down from the break room.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And I saw him on TV using the same mitt that I had, and that just made me feel like a million bucks. Jack, that is exactly why I bought Marc Messier's ice hockey helmet when I was six. It's why I drank Coca-Cola after a Wayne Gretzky ad, and I'm pretty sure that's why I enjoyed Ritz crackers when I saw some New York giant in a commercial.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
In reality, this guy's very different from Jason Bateman's gentle portrayal of him in the movie. Jason Bateman wouldn't hurt a fly. But Strasser in real life, he's been pushing for this kind of play at Nike since at least 1983. And he even said in an internal memo back then... individual athletes, even more than teams, will be the heroes.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
Symbols, more and more, of what real people can't do anymore. Risk and win. So Strasser, he backs Sonny all the way. He thinks now is the time. MJ's profile is on the rise, and he just helped the US team win gold at the Olympics in Los Angeles. And Strasser also knows from his network that Jordan is already in talks with Adidas and Converse.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
So with Strasser back in the plan, it looks like it's a go. But Sonny has one more bomb to drop. He wants to make Michael a special shoe just for him. Now, yeah, as we should point out, signature shoes, they weren't entirely a new idea in 1984. Like, they'd been around since the 1950s.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
But there was a big expense around designing a new shoe and then building and then promoting that entire new shoe product. And to do all of that for a 21-year-old who hadn't scored any NBA points yet? That sucks. was unprecedented. So to make this kind of move work, you really have to do the unexpected, the unprecedented, the unbelievable.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
And that's what Sonny Vaccaro was pushing for by building a shoe around Michael Jordan. And Phil Knight, he sold on the idea. Two and a half million? Sign that check. But there was just one more person left to convince, and that person was Michael Jordan.
The Best One Yet
The Best Idea Yet đ Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century
40,000 feet above the Rockies, Michael Jordan shifts his six-foot, six-inch frame side to side, just trying to get comfortable. He's squashed into like one of those plush beige seats of a private jet. And across from him is his mom, Dolores, and his dad, James. Up front next to the pilot, that's his agent, David Falk. And all of them together are en route to lovely Portland, Oregon.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, April 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. Yeti's big update. On tomorrow's show, we're going to pause our regular programming for a very good reason. Because we interviewed the CEO of the trendiest tech company in America.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
I mean, mascots are so dated, the whole concept is corny. Why are they trending right now, Jack? We've found a few reasons. First, we're all living in the attention economy. Yeah, mascots, they catch your attention really quickly in your Instagram feed. Boom! It's the Trix bunny. Okay, that captures my attention. But it's not just the attention, it's also the cost.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
It's cheaper to create a fictional character than to pay Brad Pitt to endorse your packaged goods product. The bigger reason, we think, for this mascot mania is control. Because you can make your mascot do anything. Okay, planters killed their Mr. Peanut mascot and then replaced him with a baby nut mascot. You can't do that to our Kardashian.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Also, Duolingo's Duo the Owl, they also had the owl fake his death last month. And that thing is more unhinged than any paid celebrity would ever be. So basically, if you are a company, you can go God mode on your mascot and no one's going to stop you. That's why every CEO is telling their marketing department, they need a cuddly mascot on my desk ASAP.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Now, the key here is that brands are investing in creative to build out multifaceted mascots with real personalities. That's why customers like us genuinely like these mascots. These little quirks give them humanity, like Geico the gecko is successful because he is cheekily and vaguely British. But this mascot mania goes even deeper because it's all a response to one specific force.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies staring at these mascots? Mascots are influencers minus the risk. It's a simple equation because yetis, we've said before, live by the influencer, you die by the influencer. It's a risk to your business sometimes working with influencers. Publicly listed companies literally list influencers as one of the top risks to the brand.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
I mean, Jack, remember the fall of Bud Light two years ago? How could I not? It began with drama over one of their influencers. Well, this mascot renaissance is the response to this influencer risk and politics fatigue. A mascot is how a company can play on social media and beyond, but control the narrative the whole time. Cobb's new PETA chip isn't going to share an opinion on vaccine mandates.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
No. Customers want less politics from their brands right now, and businesses want less controversy. Yes, mascot mania is the solution. Almost like an emotional support animal for both. Mascots. They're influencers, minus the risk. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Tariff fees have already arrived. Tariffs are getting a separate surcharge on your receipt.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
But we also go deep in this episode on how Duolingo became the biggest education app in the world. Luis will share the psychology of push notifications. And the origin story of the owl. Oh, the owl. Jack, what do you say we play a quick preview for the besties out there? Here's a teaser about Duolingo's Super Bowl commercial from last year.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Oh, tariff fees, they're coming. We've seen them, and they're going to get political. For our second story, it's Kirkland Signature Lager. They're winning praise from beer critics, but Deschutes is the real winner. Because when you grab onto a rocket ship, you get a free ride! And our third and final story. It seems like every day a new Fortune 500 mascot is born.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Because mascots are influencers minus the risk. They're Kim Kardashians without the sex tape. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First wild story from the Wall Street Journal you may hear at the water cooler this week. Elon Musk has 14 kids. There was deep reporting from the Wall Street Journal on how Elon manages what he calls his legion of offspring.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Elon's big on population growth. He's actually fathered children with four different women, 14 total so far. And according to the Wall Street Journal, he has a compound in Austin, Texas, where he would like them all to stay. The women and the children. And second, the top performing stock market of this year, guess what? It's Ghana.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
The African nation of Ghana, the stock market's up 23% because they got a big loan from the International Monetary Fund. Side note, best stock so far in America this year, it's Hertz rental car. Hertz stock surged 50% last week because it might not go bankrupt. And finally, a quick FYI in case you were planning a vacation around Fyre Fest 2. Fyre Fest 2 has been delayed.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Billy McFarlane, the guy who went to jail for the first Fyre Fest fraud. He was planning a second one. Tickets were $1,400. It was going to happen in Mexico in June, but... It's postponed. At least he's consistent. Now time for the best fact yet, which on Mondays is trivia. Jack, whip it up for us. What comic book franchise started as a joke? Okay, we're not kidding.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Like, the creators literally said to each other, what is the dumbest idea we can come up with? And then, that dumb idea became a billion dollar brand. No joke, it started as a joke. Here's a hint for you. This comic book series doesn't have a cinematic universe. yet. So besties, leave your guess about that comic TV and film franchise in the comments on Spotify or YouTube.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
It's the dumbest smart idea ever, and it's the next episode of The Best Idea Yet. Yetis, you look fantastic over there. Jack, you look fantastic leading into this interview. I am thrilled to be on this mic with you. We're gonna have a blast. It's such a funny and insightful interview.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
It was absolutely our best one, yeah. Luis is hilarious and brilliant at the same time. There were so many gems in this one. And the fact that English is his second language... It made it even more impressive that he was more articulate than us in his second language. Yes, exactly. You're going to love to hear this, Yeti. So tune in tomorrow right here on this feed.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
That interview is going to be the best idea yet. Nick and I will see you there. Can't wait. Before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Mia McConnell, a founding member of The Grext, celebrating the best birthday yet in Los Altos Hills, California. Happy birthday to Nicole from Atlanta, who's listening with her son, Nico. Oh, this is Nick, and I appreciate the names.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And Jaden Enfield from Tucson, Arizona, just had the best birthday yet on 420 with a couple of Twinkies. And happy birthday to Aaron Garcia from Thornton, Colorado. This legend has been listening since our snacks days. And a happy belated to Shruti Kartik, turning 13 years old in Sandy, Utah. Shruti, hope you had the best birthday yet.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Congratulations to Laura Lynn Donahue, who just hit a huge milestone. She is a published author. down in Columbia, Tennessee. And Megan up in Colorado Springs won a box of cookies at Trader Joe's because she answered the trivia question, where does Trader Joe's art actually come from? And she heard the answer on this pod. We got your back, Megan. And the legendary Alexandra Kravici-Kramer, a.k.a.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
A.C.K., walked 10,000 steps yesterday with a newborn strapped on and a two- and a four-year-old in the stroller. Nick, when you're carrying three kids, you got to multiply the steps by three. Oh, absolutely. Three, three. Roundup. Apple Roundup. That's a hat trick, baby. And finally, congratulations to David Nelson, the anesthesiologist. We know someone who wants your number.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And let's just say you knocked her out. And you gave her a colonoscopy yesterday. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock in Kava and Lyft. And Nick bought tickets to Fyre Fest 1. No, I'm just kidding.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
I think our buddy did. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did. 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
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
AI can't come up with that.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
You need an art degree to come up with that concept.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
So, Yetis, stay tuned tomorrow right here for the special episode with the Duolingo co-founder. Really funny guy. He talks about the super app of education. Just beware of that unhinged owl. Yetis, let's hit our three stars.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
This is the coolest brand across every single border we could find, baby. And get this, the CEO we interviewed, he's announcing a new product on our show tomorrow. You gotta tune into tomorrow's pod. It's gonna be the best one yet. But in the meantime, Jack, we got a T-boy today. What are our three stories for today's show, man? For our first story, there's a new fee you're about to see.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
For our first story, as tariffs start trickling down to consumer prices, you're about to notice a new thing on all your receipts, a tariff fee. Actually, Nick, are you going to see a tariff fee or are you going to see a Patriot fee? And that is the question. But Yetis, Jack and I noticed a wild hero stat over the weekend. Jack, could you share it with the Yetis?
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Sales of new cars surged 30% in March. March was the best month for new car sales in four years. That sounds totally random, so what's the reason, man? People are trade war hoarding. Yeah, you're panic buying before the 25% car tariff set in and jack up car prices 5,000 bucks a car. The trade war is the biggest disruption to supply chain since the pandemic. Toilet paper trigger warning.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
So people are basically trying to beat the buzzer. They're snatching up big ticket items before they get touched by tariffs. As they say, when tariffs loom, carts do boom. That is the poetry. But once tariffs hit, what happens to carts then? We'll all find out later this year. Well, this pre-tariff splurge, it has even affected our GDP. That's how big it was. That's right.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
In January and February, our economy was shrinking. But then in March, it suddenly grew as people started panic buying. Paul Revere once yelled out that the British are coming. Well, in 2025, the price hikes are coming. The price hikes are coming. Which leads to something we think you're going to start seeing everywhere. The tariff fee. Nick subscribes to cleaning products. Okay, yeah, I do.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
They arrive monthly at his door so he doesn't have to worry about refilling them. And he just got a special email from the company he subscribes to. Yeah, it's a company called Grove, and here was the email subject line. prices of your subscribed products are increasing. And I forwarded it to Jack. And Jack, what did you see inside that email?
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
The prices of the things you buy are increasing by 10 to 50% depending on the item. Yeah, like soap and paper towels. Oh, also over the weekend, Jack, Molly and I were going to buy new silverware over the weekend. I'm not trying to brag here, but it was French silverware. Pretty excited about it too. really good. But then the store slapped on a 10% tariff fee at checkout.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And didn't you walk away from the deal? Well, Jack, when I got to the checkout, I saw that final price with the tariff fee and I said, not possible. Yetis, it's not just Nick. You and I are going to start seeing this too, whether you're shopping online or in-store. The tariff fee, it's the new fee-fee. Jolie, the showerhead company, they make their showerheads in China. Jack, what are they doing?
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Well, with 145% tariffs, they just added a specific tariff fee at the checkout. In fact, Jack and I think this tariff fee could trickle down even to the restaurants you eat at. Even if they offer the same menu, their ingredient prices are probably going to rise because of these 10% across-the-board tariffs. so restaurants might add a tariff fee. Now, tariffs raise prices. It's an economic reality.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Prepare for the tariff fee. But we predict you will see two names for the tariff fee. One is the Trump fee and the other is the Patriot fee. For our second story, Costco's one weakness, it's never successfully sold a Kirkland beer. But one Oregon microbrewery is slapping Costco on their cans, and we'll tell you why.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
The question is, though, who absorbs those prices? Is it the manufacturer, the retailer, or does it get passed all the way down to you and me, the consumers? Well, all righty, massive this weekend. It looks like companies are starting to pass higher prices on to us. And they're doing it transparently. They're sticking it right on the receipt like it's a separate tax or something.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Like you have the subtotal, the state tax, the city tax, the automatic gratuity, and the tariff fee. The receipt yetis, the checkout cart, all of them are valuable real estate because we look at those final prices, which leads to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are out to see the tariff fee? These tariff fees are going to get political.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Yeah, these higher prices are coming. It's an economic certainty. Even our Fed chairman, Jerry Powell, said so last week. What's not certain is how these higher prices will be labeled. Okay, here's how this could play out. On the one hand, companies want to be transparent that these higher prices are out of their control.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Basically, if you add a tariff fee, you're telling the customer, this isn't our fault. It wasn't our idea to raise prices. So some brands, especially brands controlled by non-Trump supporters, they could call this the Trump tariff surcharge. Give it a little political angle. But others might want to show support for President Trump.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
and use a fee like liberation fee or china fee or patriot free remember the freedom fries renaming that happened in the early 2000s same rebranding concept jack but i gotta point out having a label that feels political jack that could also alienate customers on the other side just by having the fee okay so maybe you just call it tariff fee and like try to be neutral with your fee labeling but then jack even just calling it a tariff fee that
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
could be perceived as an anti-Trump move as well. Yeah, Trump probably wants no attention on this at all when it comes to consumer prices. So, Basties, add it all up, and you're going to start to see the tariff fee, and they are going to get political. For our second story, Costco's wildly popular Kirkland brand finally has a good tasting beer.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
But the biggest winner of this Kirkland brew might be one Oregon craft brewery. Now, yetis, as we've told you, we have a weekly show. It's called The Best Idea Yet. And on that show, Jack and I tell you the most viral products of all time, how they came to be. And our most popular episode is the one about Costco. Yeah. Specifically, the Kirkland brand.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Costco's private label brand that makes up a quarter of Costco's revenue. Get this. Just Kirkland brings in $66 billion of sale a year for Costco. Kirkland's signature brand brings in more revenue every year than Boeing, America's biggest airplane manufacturer. More than Amex and a whole lot more than Lyft. We won't even get into that. This is the cult of Kirkland's signature. You...
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
are a Kirkaholic. But that cult has been beer-less for seven years, haven't they, Nick? It's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Costco has one surprise weakness no one would have expected. They've never figured out how to get a good store-branded beer. Like years ago, Jack, didn't Costco have like a 48-pack Kirkland signature light you could crack open in the garage?
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Yeah, 48 light beers for 20 bucks. And even though it was 50 cents a can, They had to discontinue it. It tasted that bad. Ah, the elusive Kirkland beer. It's been Costco's Achilles heel for decades. But here's the news. Kirkland finally has a keg worthy of the Costco brand. It's called Kirkland Signature Lager. And this one Kirkland beer is seeing accelerating sales. Let's talk numbers here, Jack.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And for our third and final story, there's a new marketing trend taking over American companies. Corporate mascots. Because Jake from State Farm will do one thing the Kardashian sisters won't. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of news stories. Love the mix, Jack. As we mentioned, we're dropping a CEO interview for tomorrow's pod.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
That failed beer, the Kirkland Signature Light from years ago, it got a two-star review on Untapped, the beer drinking app. But this new beer has a 3.6 star review and apparently sales are doing really nicely. Now the key when it comes to the Kirkland brand, here's the business model. They don't make the products. They're just the brand.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
So they basically vet some great food manufacturer and say you're worthy of the Kirkland brand. So Jack, who is the beer worthy of the Kirkland brand in this case? It's Deschutes Brewery over in Oregon. They're the company behind this new Costco beer that is selling 12 packs for 14 bucks. Believe it or not, Kirkland branded coffee beans sold at Costco, those are actually Starbucks coffee beans.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And Kirkland's new successful beer is actually Deschutes Craft Brewery beer with a Kirkland label. But Nick, these beers are sold as a 12 pack for just 14 bucks. So that's just over a dollar a can. I'm doing the math here, Jack, and for a little over a buck a beer, that must be a low-quality brew, right, man? Wrong.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Kirkland's beer is actually the same Deschutes beer that won a gold medal last year at the Great American Beer Festival. And here's the key reason how. Kirkland's brand actually has a very specific financial rule. They will never set a price that has a profit margin higher than 14%. Now, that 14% profit margin magnate is unique in the industry. Other companies don't typically do this.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
No matter the product, though, Kirkland will never set a profit margin higher than 14%. But still, Jack, I got to ask, $1.20 for a can of beer? They must be diluting the ingredients for Costco's version. False. because of our takeaway jack what's the takeaway for our buddies over at costco when you grab onto a rocket ship you get a free ride Yeah, it is. Deschutes beer has a problem.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
This craft brewery made a gold medal beer, but it was expensive. A fancy German malt is pricey. If Deschutes had tried to scale that gold medal beer like all their other beers, it would have been tough to do because of that high premium price. So instead, they partnered with Costco. Because once Costco blesses a product, then its 100 million members start buying that endorsed product.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And because of that guaranteed demand from the cult of Costco, Deschutes didn't have to spend a dollar on marketing it. All those cost savings from the marketing, that let them keep high-quality ingredients in the beer for a low price. As Deschutes put it, it would have taken them 20 years to scale this fast. if they had done it on their own. This was all about scale.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Honestly, it reminds us of the deal we did with Robinhood years ago. Selling to Robinhood exposed our podcast to a giant audience. It might have taken us 20 years to scale our podcast that fast if we'd tried to do it on our own. Because, as Major Tom said to Ground Control, when you grab onto a rocket ship, you get a free ride.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And Basties, this company has so much buzz right now, its name crosses borders.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
For our third and final story, the biggest marketing trend of the year is, shockingly, mascots. Corporate mascots are being born across America because the best influencers are the ones you control completely. All right, Jack, let's whip out the whiteboard here, because we have been keeping track of the rise of mascots like we're bird watchers.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Just this year, Yetis, Domino's launched Max Scott, a new penny pasta-shaped mascot for the pizza chain. And they got 10,000 followers in one day after launching a pasta-shaped mascot. Also this year, Kava, the fast casual restaurant chain, launched Peter Chip, a PETA chip, with googly eyes. Jack, how about at the Super Bowl? Remember the Instacart ad? It was basically only mascots, right?
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Only problem, the mascot is more famous than the CEO. Because tomorrow, we are interviewing Luis Van An, the CEO and co-founder of Duolingo on this show. It's a Big deal. Huge deal. Duolingo CEOs announcing their next product tomorrow on The Best One. Yeah. An exclusive interview with Jack and me. We're pumped for it.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
And it's not just cartoon characters thriving as mascots today. Because who happens to be Gen Z's favorite influencer on TikTok these days? Jake from State Farm. I believe it's Jake from State Farm, Jack. No, it's, okay, Jake from State Farm, what are you wearing? Um, khakis. Red shirt, solid belt, pleated khakis. That's who we're talking about. Get this.
The Best One Yet
𧞠âwtf is that?â â Say Hello to Tariff Fees. Costcoâs 1st beer dupe. Return of the Mascots.
Jake from State Farm has 1.4 million TikTok followers. He has 300,000 Instagram followers, and he has 100,000 followers on Twitter. He's an insurance mascot. At this point, we need a new TV show on HBO. America's Next Top Mascot. Now, Yetis, you probably think to yourself, look, mascots are dead. Tony the Tiger? When was the last time you saw him? What was his phrase? They're great?
The Best One Yet
đ§ âUnicorn Pantsâ â Luluâs leggings turn 10. Chime is the McDâs of Money. Cavaâs hummus surge.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week?
The Best One Yet
đ§ âUnicorn Pantsâ â Luluâs leggings turn 10. Chime is the McDâs of Money. Cavaâs hummus surge.
Let go of what you can't control.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, May 12th. 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, before we hit the pod, I just got to sing the praises of how great a father Jack is. Can I do this for a moment, Jack? Where is this coming from, man?
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
They don't do ads for what appears like editorial reasons. They won't let companies advertise their product on the app. because that could affect the score that they give them. Basically, they make money on a paid version of the app, or also book sales, and they also offer a calendar that shows you when vegetables are fresh, which are not things you typically see in an app.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
But the app also includes a button to send a request to the food company to remove certain bad ingredients. And this feature is why Yucca has had such an outsized cultural impact. Hey, Jeff, please remove the monodiglycerides. I don't mind if the oil separates in my peanut butter. Actually sends an email to the company.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
In fact, companies like Chobani have now changed their product's ingredients because they got so many of these Yuka email requests. Yuka users complained that Chobani's oat milk included an additive. So Chobani found a way to remove that additive. And it's not just Chobani. Campbell's Soup also changed their recipe to a product because the Yucca users sent them so many emails.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
68 million Yucca users. They're scattered across the world. But that one button with feedback created massive market pressure. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies Yucca-ing over at Yucca? This is an example of populist regulation. Yeti's interesting quote from the CEO of Yucca. She said that regulations can be very slow to change.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
There's an entire economy based on undoing things you did, but wish you didn't. Well, perfect example we found. Tattoo removal is booming these days. Get this. Removery just raised $50 million in VC money for a tattoo removal chain. Jack, they already got 150 locations. Tattoo removal. It's the next Starbucks. Forget AI. This is the next FOMO Silicon Valley investment trend.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And we saw this in a story we covered on our show, Red Die. We knew decades ago that Red Die was bad, but it only got banned by the FDA this year. However, consumers are now getting companies to change by using market forces through the Yucca app. Companies are making changes, regulating themselves basically, because of consumer pressure from Yucca.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And now, Yetis Jack and I should point out, when a government regulates, they do it after years of science and careful implementation. UCA is effectively making regulation happen too, but less scientifically vetted and much faster. So add it all up and UCA is basically acting like the people's FDA. We call this populist regulation.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? For our first story, the hot new bling at Walmart is a $299 diamond ring. Lab Grown is now half of all engagement rings. De Beers, they created a monster, but it got out of the cage and now it is eating them. For our second story, the next Golden Globe Awards will have a best podcast category.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
After that, we think Emmys will embrace YouTube. Because the pipe that enters the TV just doesn't matter. And our third and final story. The Yuka app is now used by 68 million people, and it's gotten food companies to change their products. This is the People's FDA, or as we call it, the Populist Regulation. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
First, last week, Mark Zuckerberg said on a podcast that the average person has less than three friends. And then, unironically, he said that meta AI chatbots can become their friends instead. So it looks like meta is transforming again from a metaverse company to an AI company. And Zuck wants to use AI to solve the loneliness crisis. That Facebook and Instagram might be the cost.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And second, over the weekend, you may have noticed a change in how your Netflix looked. The homepage got a complete makeover. The first change to the homepage in 12 years. Yeah, they're calling it the new Netflix. And you know what? We think it looks a lot like a TikTok feed. We also think every other streamer is going to change their homepage to copy Netflix's. HBO, your move.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And finally, Pepsi is now the number four soda in America after it just got passed by Sprite. First century, it was Coke versus Pepsi. It was, Jack. Now, Coke is still number one with over 20% of the American soda market share. But now Dr. Pepper is number two behind Coke. Jack just tried his first one a few months ago. And Sprite is number three with Pepsi following at number four.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
That's a shocker. It is, it is. Although I wonder where birch beer is. Big birch beer fan here, Jack. Like a birch tree? I don't even know what that is. A birch beer. It's a red. You know what? That's a story for another pod, Jack. Like root beer? I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and I because Monday is for trivia. Trivia. Yes.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
What app caused Steve Jobs to declare, and we quote, thermonuclear war? Besties, this app was available on the iPhone, but an even better version was only available on Android phones. When Steve Jobs learned about this, he went berserk. Crazy. And then ordered Apple to create their own version. of this app. So add it all up. And besties, here's our question.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
What app made Steve Jobs angrier than any other app? That app will reveal in tomorrow's show. Yes, we will, Jack. Yetis, you look fantastic over there. If you haven't bought tickets to our live show in Chicago yet, we got a link right here in the episode description. It's going to be a great show. deep dish pizza party after the show location TBD.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
In fact, Jack and I may get tattoos of the logo for this show on our arms, but then we may get them removed after the show. Is that what you're thinking, Jack? Tattoo removal? It costs 10 times more to get it removed than to get it on. Yetis, you buy your ticket, we'll get the tattoos, and we'll all get them removed. No regrets. Nick and I, we'll see you later.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Apparently Mark Andreessen wants to disrupt the tramp stamp. Yes, he does. Now, the real reason VC loves tattoo removal- Is good. It takes 10 sessions to remove a tattoo. Like we say, where there's repetition, there's revenue. Nothing against tattoos, by the way. In fact, I'm thinking about getting a tattoo to somehow commemorate all my three boys. Are you going to get a dinosaur for one of them?
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, John Gill, turning 26 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And roll tide, John. Happy birthday to Joey G in Philadelphia, PA, who's celebrating in Nashville. And Chicago Yeti, Sydney Jones, Victoria Loggaly, Katie Close, Dean Ackie, Eric Williams, and so many more who've copped their tickets to the live show. Thanks for sharing your Tix Picks. SFFD.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And finally, Jack, we had a little incident with some smoke and almost a fire at our apartment the other night. So the San Francisco Fire Department came out. Yeah. And Jack, guess what? Not only are they all incredible professionals, they're the best. Shaggy, one of the firefighters, was a Yeti and I got to meet him. No way. Can you believe that? Did you give him a sticker? I gave him a sticker.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Shaggy deserved way more than a sticker. So just a thank you to the whole SFFD. Incredible what you guys do. Thanks for everything you're This is Jack, our own stock of Netflix, and Nick and I both own stock of Apple. 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
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
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
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Like to really make it special? Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and Gigantosaurus. I'm not discouraging it, Jack, but, you know, be careful because the regret economy, it is real, man. Oh, boy. Yeah, we also call this the Control Z Incorporation. Yeah, I'm going to want to Control Z that pterodactyl. Yeah, maybe when you're 73. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies in the regret economy?
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
You can sell just as many erasers as you do pencils. Actually, ten times more erasers. Your move, SoftBank.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Okay, the other week, Jack hosted his son's birthday party. He wanted dinosaurs. Jack did a dinosaur Easter egg hunt. Yeah, I know. It was amazing, wasn't it? Okay, and then... He wanted dinosaurs, more dinosaurs. So Jack got a wedding cake themed like dinosaurs for his four-year-old son. The giant three-tiered birthday cake was actually Alex's doing, but thank you.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
First, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
For our first story, lab-grown diamond prices have gotten so low, you can now buy a one-carat diamond ring over at Walmart for $2.99. And De Beers, the diamond giant, is being attacked by the monster it created. Literally. But yetis, happy engagement season to all those who celebrate. If you haven't done it yet, by the way, your secret's safe with us. It's spring. Yes.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Spring is typically when we see a pop in getting down on one knee. Diamonds, they're a girl's best friend. But lab-grown diamonds, they are a fiscally responsible best friend. Because get this, the price of a lab-grown diamond has fallen by 90% in six years. We repeat a 90% lab-grown diamond drop. Jack, what exactly is going on here? With a lab-grown diamond,
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
You don't have to wait millions of years for Earth to create the diamond. It's a highly scalable product, like a software. You don't have to mine lab-grown diamonds either. You can make them in a lab in one to two weeks. And they're identically the same as a natural diamond. Which leads to this wild development in the engagement industry.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
50% of engagement rings today have a lab-grown diamond in them. In fact, for the studs market, that lab percentage is even higher. Yeah, a single diamond stud earring. Odds are, that diamond... was born in a lab. He didn't go to Jared's. He went to Walmart. And to quote your best friend's engagement post he just made on Instagram, lab-grown diamonds just did a thing.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
But here's what we find fascinating about this story, Yetis. The 90% drop in lab-grown diamond prices has completely changed the engagement economy. Specifically, we need to introduce the $299 engagement ring.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
walmart that's right the walmart 299 ring bling du jour this is wild yetis when nick and i got engaged not to each other just to clarify you may not know that to be honest but we actually both have wives the price back then of a one carat pretty nice diamond was five or six thousand dollars it was more than pretty nice i saw alex's ring it's beautiful it's beautiful jack
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Because that diamond was mined from Mother Earth by De Beers, the 137-year-old diamond Goliath monopoly. But today, Walmart is selling the same exact stone for $299. Walmart dropped a diamond dupe 95% less than what we were buying for the same chemical quality diamond. Nick and I bought them in 2017 and 2018. Now they're 95% lower priced.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Well, let's jump in T-boy style to the financials here, Jack. Such low prices for the best stone on earth, Walmart's diamond sales tripled last year because of it. Which leads to the wild news we noticed over the weekend. De Beers, the diamond giant, is shutting down their lab-grown diamond business.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Now, Jack, I'm going to need you to grab a rag and like dust off some context for us for that statement, please. De Beers is the world's biggest natural diamond provider. In fact, they historically had a monopoly on natural diamonds. They controlled all the mines. But interestingly, because they were afraid of being disrupted, De Beers launched a lab-grown business six years ago.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
I'll spread the credit to her too. The baker said it was unprecedented, but Jack, amazing work. He's balancing so much. Very kind, Nick. Thank you, man. But Jack, three stories for today. T-Boy, what do we got on the pod? For our first story, the price of lab-grown diamonds have fallen by 90%. So Jack and I got to tell you about Walmart's $299 diamond ring dupe.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
But today, with the flood of lab-grown diamonds in the market, dropping prices by 90%. Yeah, the margins, they were just too small for De Beers to make a profit on their lab-grown gems. So they're shutting down the lab-grown business and doubling down on natural diamonds. In fact, De Beers even tweaked their tagline to adjust for the new engagement economy.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
For a hundred years, they said diamonds are forever, but now the tagline is forever present. Basically, Jack, it looks like they're marketing time as part of their value proposition. Both backwards time and forward-looking time. It honestly reminds us a lot of Hermes, because Hermes points out that their Birkin bags take 30 hours to make. The suggestion here is that time makes the product superior.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
So Jack and I took a lot of time and we whipped up this takeaway. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the diamond industry? De Beers created a monster, but that monster got out of its cage. Literally. Yeti's wild reveal Jack and I waited to share until the end. Guess who actually invented the lab-grown diamond? De Beers did. Yeah, De Beers.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
In 1959, De Beers figured out how to make a diamond in a lab. Here's the plot twist. For 50 years, De Beers basically tried to keep that a secret in order to protect their high prices on natural diamonds. They didn't tell anyone about lab-grown diamonds because they wanted to protect their profit puppy, the $10,000 natural diamond. What Jack and I are saying here is De Beers is Kaiser Soze.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
That's basically the moment we're in. They did it. They did it. They did it to themselves. De Beers, they only sold lab-grown diamonds for industrial purposes, like laser-cutting other diamonds. But eventually, some scientist figured out how to make a diamond in a lab and started selling them as jewelry. So De Beers finally caved just seven years ago and started selling lab-grown diamonds.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
But get this, Yetis, another plot twist, according to Bloomberg. When De Beers entered the lab-grown diamond business, they did so intentionally at a crazy low price. And why did they do that, Jack? And I quote, create a clear divide in consumers' minds between traditional and lab-grown diamonds. Welp, looks like it worked.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Probably too well for De Beers, because the diamond industry, it's now in crisis, flooded by man-made stones. De Beers created a monster in a lab. Literally. But then, it got out of its cage. For our second story, the Golden Globes have added a brand new category, Best Podcast. Next up, we think the Emmys will embrace YouTube. That's right, because the pipe just doesn't matter.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Yetis, the 2026 Golden Globe Awards are now introducing Best in Podcasts. This is the first time a major award show is going new media. Yeah, the Top 25 Podcasts will now qualify for consideration of this brand new award. Although it's unclear how those Top 25 Podcasts will be determined. Trust us, besties, we're deep in the industry.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Apple, Spotify, YouTube, they each have a different way of tabulating the charts. So it's kind of unclear who or how is what and where. It's Still, still, still, on December 8th, the Golden Globes are going to announce the six nominees for best podcast. And if T-Boy gets robbed and we're not nominated, fine, we'll co-host the ceremony for you. It feels like the tip of the podcast iceberg, though.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Yeah, it does, Jack. It really does. Because the Golden Globe has 15 film categories, 12 TV categories, but just one podcast category. So like someday they will have the coolest co-host award with like a bunch of other awards. And I want to point out, there's going to be a bunch of podcast awards.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
You know, we are referred to as like the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler of business podcasting, I believe, Jack, right? Self-proclaimed, and I love it. Brunette and blonde, just saying it works. Now, we also should point out, besties, that the Golden Globes are kind of the most promiscuous of the award shows. Yeah, when you talk about someone winning an EGOT, Golden Globes isn't in there.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
For our second story, for the first time ever, podcasts will be a new category at the Golden Globe Awards. So we've got a brand new prediction. The Emmys are going to embrace YouTube. And our third and final story. All the big food companies are scared of one single app. Yeah. The Yuka app. That's right. This food scanning app, Yuka, is now the FDA of the people.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Yeah, because other award shows are one vertical. Like the Grammys only does audio. The Tonys only does Broadway. But the Golden Globes do film, TV, and now podcasts. You like us. You really like us. But this isn't just the tip of the podcast iceberg. Good point, Jack. This is the tip of the new media iceberg when it comes to big award shows.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Because, besties, we're going to drop this prediction right now. The Emmys are adding... The Emmy Awards, like most of the big awards, focus on just one medium. They celebrate excellence in television. But 10% of all content watched on TV these days in America, it's YouTube videos. The old definition of TV was cable or broadcast, but now that's just older Americans who watch that way.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
So when you watch the Emmy Awards, they're dominated by streaming these days, and yet YouTube is completely absent from it. Even though YouTube gets an equal amount of Americans' TV viewing time as any other streamer does, including Netflix. That's why we're saying, hey, Emmys, your move, your move. The latest presidential election shows that podcasts mattered much more than traditional TV did.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Good point, Jack. So add it all up, besties, and we think the Emmy Awards will be the next to recognize this with YouTube native shows, podcasts, and web series in the awards. To make that happen, we bet shows and podcasts on YouTube will cut episodes up into seasons to make it easier to win an award. Exactly.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
What we're saying is that this decision by an award show to add YouTube and podcasts could affect the content you listen to and watch. And as a result, your favorite podcast might start describing their shows as seasons. Like you might have season six of your favorite podcast. So that Emmy Awards judges could understand what they're consuming and judging now. So Jack, the envelope please.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
What's the takeaway for our buddies over in new media? The pipe doesn't matter. Yetis, in 2013, Netflix's House of Cards became the first streaming-only show to win an Emmy Award. Now CEO Ted Sarandos said this at the time. This is a great quote. Most people watch House of Cards through an internet connection to their television. At the end of the day...
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
which pipe went into the box is kind of irrelevant to viewers. The pipes don't matter. Until 2013, Emmys were dominated by cable cord pipes. Now they're dominated by Wi-Fi signals. Now TV executives would argue that the pipes do actually matter. Anyone can publish a podcast or YouTube video. But very few people get to make a TV series. Yeah, so like the barriers are low.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
There's so many podcasts and YouTube videos. Like how can judges sift through all of that massive amount of content? But still, to stay relevant, the award shows must realize that the pipe doesn't matter. Pipe don't matter. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. No one else is doing that mix. Love the mix today, Jack. You just finished a weekend. Yeah. You probably have some regrets. Maybe you regret you did too little. Maybe you regret you did a little bit too much. Which is why we want to tell you about the newest industry. The regret industry. Or the regerts industry. If you know, you know.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
For our third and final story, one app has surged to number one in the health category on the Apple iStore, and that app is Yuka. This food scanning app is scaring big food. RFK Jr. loves it. But is it a truth teller or a tyrant? Yeti's funny thing Jack and I have noticed. From Campbell's Soup to Kellogg, there is one thing all the big food brands are afraid of right now, and who is it, Jack?
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Yuka. Yuka. Y-U-K-A. They got 68 million users. Here's how it works. You whip out your phone, scan a picture of a barcode, and boom. The food is scored on a scale of 0 to 100 in terms of its healthiness. And my dad loves doing this, even though he's eating like cake. I'm shocked your dad uses this app. It's like a party trick for him. I think it's the only app he uses.
The Best One Yet
đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
But Jack, what would you see if you used this, like if you did Ritz crackers scanned on the Yuka app? Ritz crackers got a 0 out of 100. I know. There's too many additives. It's too salty. It's too caloric and a bit too fatty, according to the Yuka app. Okay. What about something like Quaker old-fashioned oats, like something really wholesome? You got a 100 out of 100. Those are just rolled oats.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
There's no additives. There's nothing in there. It's just oats. Now, interestingly, the Yuka app has expanded beyond the food category because there was just such demand for this. For example, CeraVe Facial Cleanser got a 13 out of 100. because of parabens. Or Coterie baby wipes. They got a 96 out of 100 because they got just two ingredients, wipes and water. Jif peanut butter.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
Basically got an F minus on Yucca. That hurts, Jack. The app actually suggests that you buy Smucker's organic peanut butter instead. Yeah. Because that's just two ingredients, peanuts and salt. My Skippies feels judged. But yetis, we dove in T-boy style. And Yucca is based in France, has 68 million users, and one third of them are in America.
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đ âHe went to Walmartâ â The $299 Diamond Ring. Yukaâs MAHA app. Podcastsâ Golden Globes Award.
And those users are a crowdsourcing legion of grocery store detectives who scan every product before tossing it into the cart. But besties, here's the wildest part about the Yucca Food Analysis app. Big Food isn't just scared of what grade they're going to get from Yucca. They're actually changing their products because of Yucca. Okay, we'll explain. First, the Yucca business model.
The Best One Yet
đĄ âIdeas = Currencyâ â TED Talksâ CEO audition. Costcoâs girl math. âMuskingâ the US Govât.
This is Nick. This is Jack.
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đĄ âIdeas = Currencyâ â TED Talksâ CEO audition. Costcoâs girl math. âMuskingâ the US Govât.
But yet is this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. Oh, how do we not think of that earlier? That's so good, man.
The Best One Yet
đĄ âIdeas = Currencyâ â TED Talksâ CEO audition. Costcoâs girl math. âMuskingâ the US Govât.
That's a confusing sentence, but I think it works. I think you had a win with the girl math one, Jack. We should have left it at that.
The Best One Yet
đĄ âIdeas = Currencyâ â TED Talksâ CEO audition. Costcoâs girl math. âMuskingâ the US Govât.
Hey, buddy Timmy, that's $26, man.
The Best One Yet
đĄ âIdeas = Currencyâ â TED Talksâ CEO audition. Costcoâs girl math. âMuskingâ the US Govât.
Classic Philly. By the way, Nick lived in Philadelphia for a year. So we can say that. In this economy, besties, you stay home on Super Bowl Monday. It feels like a holiday, even though it isn't. Yes!
The Best One Yet
đĄ âIdeas = Currencyâ â TED Talksâ CEO audition. Costcoâs girl math. âMuskingâ the US Govât.
He's going to have a baby in like two weeks. I got to see him before this thing happens.
The Best One Yet
đŽ âThe Predictions Podâ â Apple iToilet, Disney Airlines, and Home Depot Homes.
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, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.
The Best One Yet
đ§ âSeveredâ â AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerryâs chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidiaâs AI Super Bowl.
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, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
This is Nick.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to head into the weekend, baby?
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
Hey, you know what's not a T-Boy? Someone at the T-Boy studio spilled lasagna on my pants. That tomato sauce doesn't come out easy, dude. No, it does not. And it may have been me. Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got on the pod?
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âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
Dude, I've never had any of these sodas.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
I think that still doesn't answer our question.
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âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
That's what they're for.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
We want to get to know you.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
You actually do eat it with a really tiny spoon. Oh, you do? You're halfway there, Jack. You are halfway there. Yetis, let's hit our three stories. Tiny eggs, tiny spoon.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
First, a quick word from our sponsor.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
You know how much fuel those Zambonis use, by the way?
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
But our takeaway is so yes.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
Forget Hulu making a documentary. We're definitely getting a podcast series on this, Jack.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âMake it Rainnnâ â Rainmakerâs rain startup. Dickâs Foot Locker palace. UnitedHealthâs worst month ever.
Literally. Literally.
The Best One Yet
đĽ âLAâs Fire Heroâ â Watch Dutyâs #1 fire app. Rolls-Royceâs Picasso car. $1T of Gift Returns.
15 years before this song two boys from the northeast met in the dorm they had an idea to cause a cultural storm it's the best one yet but the best is the norm jack nick 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. Start the show.
The Best One Yet
đť âEat Pray Chewâ â GrĂźnsâ $500M gummybear. Googleâs DVD moment. Englandâs Ron Weasley trade deal.
Right.
The Best One Yet
đť âEat Pray Chewâ â GrĂźnsâ $500M gummybear. Googleâs DVD moment. Englandâs Ron Weasley trade deal.
Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop? From Wondery and At Will Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to get other people to do it.
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đť âEat Pray Chewâ â GrĂźnsâ $500M gummybear. Googleâs DVD moment. Englandâs Ron Weasley trade deal.
and the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats. Like, if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie. Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+.
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đť âEat Pray Chewâ â GrĂźnsâ $500M gummybear. Googleâs DVD moment. Englandâs Ron Weasley trade deal.
Get started with your free trial at wondery.com slash plus.
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đ âThe Super Bowl Podâ â Kendrickâs $0 Halftime Show. Wilsonâs football monopoly. The Curse of the Commercial.
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 a norm. Jack Nick, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.
The Best One Yet
âď¸ âWakanda got Tariffâdâ â Trade Warâs nuclear fallout. White Lotusâ drip strategy. Coachâs dwell time.
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, 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, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.