The Best One Yet
🍦 “Fo-Sho” — 16 Handles’ return. Paramount’s hostile takeover. Sephora’s football strategy. +Bieber’s iPhone diss.
09 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday T-Boy, Tuesday, December 9th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. I mean, Jack, the mix is so good. What do you say we get right to it today, man? For our first story, the empire strikes back. Dun, dun, dun. Paramount has upped the ante to acquire Warner Brothers.
Yesterday we told you Netflix was buying Warner Brothers, but today Paramount is attempting a hostile takeover. For our second story, Sephora's makeup sales are at an all-time high right now, thanks to the same strategy that works in football. And it's the only strategy that works if you're trying to sell something. And our third and final story, Pinkberry, TCBY, 16 handles.
Chapter 2: What is Paramount's strategy behind the Warner Brothers takeover?
Delicious. Nick, you notice more fro-yo chains popping up around you? I kind of want to lick the podcast right now. Oh, boy. We'll explain why frozen yogurt is the hottest food of this winter, and it's not just nostalgia. Don't make a lick sound right now. I was going so close. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories.
Love the mix of stories for T-Boy Tuesday, Jack. They've got some awkward times going on over at Apple. Yeah, you see, Apple stock is at an all-time high, but everybody is leaving. Last week, Apple's chief lawyer announced they're retiring. And their chief designer said he's ditching for Meta.
Chapter 3: How is Sephora achieving record sales despite competition?
And Apple's AI business is still MIA. But the worst business story for Apple of the year so far is... Justin Bieber? The Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Bieber... Just dropped a diss track on Apple. All right, Jack, pause the pod. You got to bring on some context for us, please. Over the weekend, Bieber complained on social media of his most hated iPhone feature, that little dictation button.
Ah, the dictation button. In iMessage, why is the talk to text button right next to the send button? No, it's on top of the send button. If you first push talk to text, it becomes the send button. And so apparently every time Bieber goes to send a text message, he accidentally records himself in a very unscripted moment.
So as he posted on Instagram and X yesterday, Jack, if I hit this dictation button after sending a text and it beeps and stops my music one more time, more time. I'm going to find everyone at Apple and put them in a rear naked chokehold. Translation, if Apple doesn't issue a software fix, Bieber is going to start wrestling them.
Chapter 4: What factors contributed to the decline of frozen yogurt chains?
It sounds like he's going to spank them. I don't know what a naked chokehold is, Jack. Me neither. But why did Apple stock fall 1% yesterday, Nick? Well, Jack, blame it on the Bieber bash. We have never seen Bieber more bitter, baby. So to quote Bieber himself, hey, Steve Jobs, where are you now that I need you? Jack, it reminds me of that Bieber song, Beauty and an Apple Beat.
He was like, baby, baby, baby, oh. Baby, baby, baby, oh. Baby, baby, baby, oh. You'd always fix your unit interface.
Jack, let's hit our three stories. 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.
For our first story, in a dramatic escalation to yesterday's Netflix story, Paramount is now attempting a hostile takeover of the Warner Brothers. The empire strikes back, Nick. And that empire is funded by Trump's closest friends. Yetis, this is page six news meets the Wall Street Journal.
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Chapter 5: How is 16 Handles revitalizing the frozen yogurt market?
Just yesterday morning, the bombshell report was that Netflix was eating Hollywood. But immediately after Netflix announced they were acquiring Warner Brothers on Friday, Paramount's investment bankers and lawyers must have pulled three straight all-nighters. Because on Monday morning, Paramount announced a $108 billion hostile takeover attempt of Hollywood.
Netflix offered $27.75 per share to acquire Warner Brothers. But now Paramount is offering $30 per share to buy the same company. But Nick, you used the word hostile earlier, and we want to point out hostile is a real finance term. Yeah, Jack, why don't we sprinkle on some context over there, please?
Paramount's offer bypasses Warner Brothers Board of Directors, which voted on Friday to sell the company to Netflix. Instead, Paramount is aggressively going directly to Warner Brothers shareholders to vote on which deal is better.
Chapter 6: What unique changes is 16 Handles implementing to attract customers?
And that is the definition of a hostile takeover.
Chapter 7: What are the implications of Justin Bieber's criticism of Apple?
The result is an epic vote for shareholders of Warner Brothers. By January 8th, they have to decide, do we want to sell to Netflix or do we want to sell to Paramount? Yes, which one are you going to give your rose to? Now, Paramount's pitch is not only are we offering more money than Netflix, but we're also more likely to be approved by regulators.
But add all up and it feels like we are in the middle of Warner Brothers Bachelorette. Episode two is already meatier and spicier than episode one, Jack. But yetis, here's what we find most fascinating about this story. Why would Paramount get approved by regulators? Why, Jack? Because all of the buyers have done sleepovers at Mar-a-Lago.
Yeah, let's kick it off with our buddy Larry Ellison, second richest man in the world. He actually bought Paramount for his son as a gift. Must be nice. And the Ellisons have been saying for months that they're the only ones President Trump would allow to buy Warner Brothers Discovery. And interestingly, it's not just because Ellison is a Trump super donor, right, Jack?
It's also because he's tapping President Trump's inner circle to help pay for this huge deal. All right, let's look at the tab. Three Trump-allied sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East are going to write checks because they are part of the Paramount ownership group.
Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar, President Trump has visited each of his allied countries this summer, and they're all going to be buying Paramount. Plus, Jack, you've got Affinity Partners, the private equity firm run by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law. There you go. He's funding Paramount, too. Add it all up, and that's why they think regulators will be on board.
So how can Paramount, worth $15 billion, afford to outspend Netflix, which is worth $400 billion? Well, by opening up a Splitwise account that includes everyone the president sent Christmas cards to. Or did he open an Evite account? It may have been a Venmo account. Either way, though, Jack, if you know your nose to Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Warner Bros?
Whoever wins, David Zaslav wins. The failed CEO who is now winning. Yet is back in April, David Zaslav's strategy as the CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery had utterly failed. The guy who merged Warner Brothers with Discovery and changed HBO Max to Max decided it was time to unmerge Warner Brothers from Discovery and rename Max to HBO Max.
Yeah, that was back when Warner Brothers Discovery stock was just eight bucks a share. It was low. But then... the Ellison family decided to acquire Paramount. And then the Ellisons got interested in acquiring Warner Brothers too. So they offered Warner Brothers 19 bucks a share in September, and then 22 bucks a share after that, and then 24 bucks a share after that.
David Zaslav said no to all three of those Paramount offers, and that's when he got $27.27 from Netflix. And now that has driven the Ellisons crazy, so they're offering 30 bucks a share in this hostile takeover. $30 a share for something that six months ago cost $8 a share.
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Chapter 8: How are market dynamics affecting Apple's stock performance?
Jack, what are we seeing? $18.5 billion of revenue last year is more than Dick's Sporting Goods, half as much as Best Buy. But this beauty chain with the black and white bags is more profitable than both of those big box stores. And last week in the Louis Vuitton earnings call, the CEO joked that he can't share the all-time Sephora profits because you wouldn't believe how big they are.
Jack, did you see that the Sephora store in Paris gets more visitors than the Eiffel Tower in Paris? Is that true? It's true. More people are lining up to buy MAC lip liner than see the seventh wonder of the world. It is possible. But yet, this is what Jack and I find fascinating. Sephora has faced more competition than ever before, and yet Sephora is thriving more than ever before.
Ulta Beauty is gaining market share. Amazon started selling subscription makeup online. Jack, TikTok shop? Beauty influencers are selling serums directly through Get Ready With Me videos. And yet, Sephora's 3,400 global stores are in their all-time high era, and Nick and I found a few reasons why. Well, the first jack is exclusivity.
Of the 300 upscale beauty brands that Sephora sells, half you can only buy at Sephora. Yeah, we noticed that Sephora basically signs makeup brands like Team Signs Athletes. If you want the new road blush, you can only buy at Sephora. And the second reason for the Sephora surge is economic. We've told you before about the Lipstick Index.
If you feel bad about the economy, you'll still buy a lipstick as a little treat for yourself. And if you're feeling good about the economy, you'll also still buy a lipstick. You'll just buy a more expensive lipstick. So no matter the economic situation, somebody splurging on Glossier at Sephora. Or maybe Christian Dior if they're feeling good about the economy.
And the third reason Sephora is in its all-time high era is our takeaway. But Jack, since you have a 42-step skincare routine and were once a backup D3 college high school quarterback, I feel like this Sephora takeaway was made for you. Are you ready for this? Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Sephora? In the competition of retail, you have to fight for every inch.
Yeti's last month, Jack and I got to interview the CEO of Lyft, David Risher, who has this great rule from his days of Amazon. Here it is. Every page must sell. The idea is that every part of the customer experience must add value. Every moment is a selling opportunity. Well, that's how Sephora thinks about their stores. As their CMO put it, every square inch must be productive.
Every inch is like a little jewel. You'll notice it if you go there. Teens linger by the Tom Ford fragrances that have naughty names. And while the mini makeup section is strategically placed in the checkout line where you're going to wait for five minutes. The giant table over there, it's for everything that's trending on TikTok right now.
There is no wasted space, no shelf for things that don't sell. There is no generic aisle six at Sephora. Like football, retail is a relentless game of inches, and Sephora has become a Hall of Famer. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, frozen yogurt. It's having a major revival led by the legendary DIY Froyo chain, 16 Handles.
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