The Best One Yet - 2️⃣ “Upvote” — Our Reddit Stock Pick. Shirley Temple’s surge. Trump’s Landlord Lockout.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Thursday, the new Friday, January 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. I'm sorry, update on our live tour. The first show, February 25th, Austin, Texas.

Starting point is 00:00:17 Jack, how many tickets are left? Zero. Sold out. So if you're in D.C., New York, or L.A., buy tickets now while you still can. Yeah, we put the links in the episode description. If the tickets are still there, I don't know. They may have sold out too by now, Jack.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Okay. Really, grab your tickets now. We can't wait to see you live. But three fantastic stories for today's show. What do we got on the tea boy? For our first story, the drink of dry January has already been crowned. It's the Shirley Temple. Jack and I will tell you why Gatorade 7-Up, Olippop, Poppy, like every other beverage brand are going Gaga for Grenadine.

Starting point is 00:00:48 For our second story, President Trump said yesterday he's banning corporate home buying in America so that families can buy homes instead. We call it the landlord lockout. Because when Wall Street stops buying, is more for the rest of us. And our third and final story. For our second day in a row, we're doing our portfolio resolutions, our three stock picks for the new year. And our second stock pick for 2026, it just got upvoted on Reddit. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Whoa, I mean, no one else is doing that mix. Love the mix of stories, Jack. The hottest show on

Starting point is 00:01:21 TV right now is actually on ice. Heeded rivalry, HBO's gay hockey romance. You heard that right. Heated rivalry. The Rom Kong series about two hockey players who hook up when they play each other. We're not talking Gretzky and Messier, but we could be talking Gretzky and Messier. Queer Romance and Cross Jacks, that's what you get. Heated Romance is the number one streaming show in Canada, and has my wife suddenly claiming she's a hockey fan? She called five for fighting on that one. Perfect timing, by the way, Jack, because the winner Olympics started in one month and NHL players are involved in the game scan. It's going to be an exciting game, but it has Nick and me realizing hockey's biggest mainstream

Starting point is 00:01:58 moments in American history, they tend to be linked to movies. We dove into the numbers. Get this, 1992, you got the Mighty Ducks trilogy, which drove a surge in ice skating programs. And that fictional team led to a real NHL team, the Anaheim Ducks. Worth a real multimillion dollars. In 2004, Disney hit the ice again with Miracle about Team USA. Disney also did Inside Out One and Inside Out Two, where the protagonist is a hockey player. I'm sorry, Jack, pause the pot. Walt Disney didn't drive a car, he drove a Zamboni. You also got Happy Gilmore, Mystery Alaska, and now heated rivalry. Basty's based on our research.

Starting point is 00:02:35 No sport is more dependent on Hollywood for TV ratings than hockey. The only times of my life I've ever paid attention to hockey is movies. I'll pretend I didn't hear that. And according to Chad Chief of T, hockey movies actually made more at the box office than basketball movies have. So hockey is the winter sport of the day, not basketball. Add it all up and what the league needs isn't another Alex Ovegkin, is it? Jack. Hockey needs another Gordon Bombay.

Starting point is 00:02:59 And Knucklepuck is a profit puppy. D4. Yeah. The Mighty Ducks. Six. That's a goal sound, Jack. That's a goal sound. Let's in our three stories. Fifteen years before this song. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm.

Starting point is 00:03:17 Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're, We're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show.

Starting point is 00:03:37 First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Poppy and Oli Poppy. Both launched a Shirley Temple in the same week. Oh, and Seven Up also has a Shirley Temple now. Oh, and even Gatorade? Yeah, they've got a Shirley Temple now. Shirley Temple became the flavor of the year last year because of something we call S&D. Oh, Yeti's happy, dry January to all those who say,

Starting point is 00:04:08 celebrate. Your local bar, looks more like a high school dance. Yeah, bartenders aren't celebrating. No, no, no, no, no, no. A lot of chaperones at the bar, but no shnops. Jack, just say no to the Pino. Get this. One out of four Americans actually did dry January last year. And the number one trending non-alcohol drink for dry January? It's the Shirley Temple. The Shirley Temple, the OG mocktail, Jack, could you sprinkle on some ingredient in context, please? Well, the base is ginger ale, Sprite, or seven up. They all work. And then you add grenadine with some of those gorgeous cherries that are skinless and like shockingly red. I mean, you never forget your first Shirley.

Starting point is 00:04:42 Remember your first Shirley, Jack? Oh, it sounds like you forgot your first Shirley. I was a Betty Haunted. The ship threw a shrimp into my mouth. And then I was like, hey, three more for the birthday party. You washed it down with the Shirley Temple, huh? But Besties, Jack and I jumped in T-Boy style. And the Shirley was actually invented at Chasen's restaurant in lovely Los Angeles 95 years ago.

Starting point is 00:05:01 So that child actors could drink a beverage after the shoot with their adult co-stars. But here's the ironic twist we discovered. Shirley Temple hated Shirley Temple. You mean the actress Shirley Temple? Yeah, in fact, she did an interview in the 1980s where she said they were just too sweet. She even sued to stop brands from using her name until her death, which came in 2014. But it wasn't until 11 years later, 2025, that brands started using the Shirley Temple name once again. Besties, the Shirley Temple is, in our opinion and our research, the unofficial flavor of the year.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Because we've never seen more companies launched the same thing at the same time as the Shirley Temple. Okay, let's whip out the whiteboard. Follow us in this one. Three days ago, Oli Pop, the soda biz, launched a Shirley Temple flavor. Funny timing, because earlier that week, on January 1st, Poppy launched a Shirley Temple. We noticed Ollipop made seven separate Instagram posts to hype and launch their Shirley Temple, while Poppy did nine of them. Oh, and a couple months prior, Ben Stiller launched a new soda brand with Shirley Temple as the first flavor. Apparently Ben Stiller, according to him, drinks three Shirley Temples at every dinner meal.

Starting point is 00:06:08 And Seven Up also launched a Shirley Temple this fall. Sorry, pause the paw, Jack. Before that, Gatorade introduced a Shirley Temple with electrolytes last fall. 16 handles created a Shirley Temple frozen yogurt. And there's even a Shirley Temple influencer, the Shirley Temple King, with 250,000 followers. The New York Times did a whole profile on this dude. He even signed with an agent.

Starting point is 00:06:30 Now, we've talked about kidalting in the toy industry. Yeah, we have. Like we covered Legos yesterday, Jack, and like, you know, adults playing with Legos, that's cadulting. But the Shirley Temple surge is codulting in drinks. Yes, it is. It's also another concept we've noticed that we call nostalgia. Remixing old concepts with new updates.

Starting point is 00:06:48 You see, the pink pretty bubbles of a Shirley Temple are basically made for the Instagram era. This is their moment. So add it all up, and Shirley Temple was a movie star, but the Shirley Temple drink is now a TikTok star. Which leads to our takeaway. Yes, it does. We'll actually make it four. Well, four of them with extra cherries. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies with the Shirley Temples?

Starting point is 00:07:09 Companies used to do research and development. Now, they do scrolling in development. Yeties, we actually trace this Shirley Temple boom all the way back to 2021 during the pandemic. We were born at home, so we mixed together those three ingredients and rediscovered our childhood treat. And as more Americans go dry and post about going dry, Shirley Temple demand has surged. That is why a dozen companies have recently. launched and packaged their own Shirley Temple products. They saw your posts on social. You see, Basti's brands used to do R&D, research and development. You do research in a lab,

Starting point is 00:07:42 you test the new product with a focus group before finally bringing it to market. But now we notice some of them are doing S&D, scrolling and development. You scroll social media, figure out what's popular, bottle your own version, bring it to market. Now S&D isn't patentable. Everyone can do it, and you're basically just bottling up something that already exists. But S&D is also less risky. Since you know consumers already want this thing, you're just making it easy farm. Couldn't have said it better, Jack. The good companies, they do R&D, but the smart ones do S&D. For our second story, President Trump said he is banning Wall Street from buying homes. It's the landlord lockout, but there's a much bigger opportunity that Nick and I are dying to talk about.

Starting point is 00:08:28 Oh, but before we get to that opportunity, Jack, let's start with some trivia. Guess who bought nearly one out of five homes sold in America in the first quarter of 2024. It's not the Jeffersons. No. It's not the lovely dink couple that moved in down the route. They're great. It's not even Bravo to film season 16 of Summerhouse. No, the answer?

Starting point is 00:08:46 One out of five homes sold in America in Q1, 2024, was bought by Wall Street. Wall Street. According to Redfin, 19% of homes were bought by investment firms. I mean, Jack, what kind of a housewarming gift are we going to give Goldman Sachs? I don't know, like a dividend. Jamie, you did a great job with the sconces. in the kitchen. These Wall Street investment firms didn't buy the house to live in them. They bought the house to become a corporate landlord or to flip the house for a higher price down the road. And those

Starting point is 00:09:13 corporate landlords often rent out those houses at prices determined by an algorithm. And those prices, yeah, they're higher than the rest of the market. Want to talk about Atlanta, Jack? Oh, Atlanta, it's particularly chronic. 30% of single-family homes there available for rent are owned by Wall Street investment firms. If you live in Atlanta, you know that this competition always leads to all cash offers, which raises rents, and that makes it even harder for actual families to buy and move in. Which leads to the news from yesterday. Eager to show action on the affordability issue, President Trump posted that he was taking action to outlaw this kind of corporate buying of homes. So big, positive news for all the dinks out there looking at potentially buying to a home.

Starting point is 00:09:54 But really bad news for private equity firms, REITs, companies like Fundrise or real estate companies that flip houses like Open Door. Open Door, because Open Door is a corporation that buys and sells houses, and they fell 11% yesterday. Open Door's door got shut. Or Jack, how about Blackstone, which famously bought Stuy Town, the real estate development in New York City, back in 2015? Blackstone, the PE firm, spent $5 billion to buy those 11,000 apartments. But never again will a Wall Street home purchase like that happen, according to Trump's post yesterday. Which is why Blackstone stock fell five percent yesterday. Now, important context that we need to sprinkle on. This isn't political context. This is just context we have all noticed over the last year. Trump saying something is not the same as that

Starting point is 00:10:41 something actually happening. For example, President Trump said he would tear a foreign films last year, but nothing has happened to make that actually happen. There's lots of examples of tweets coming out about a policy, and then that policy getting zero action. But on this, President Trump said he's taking immediate steps and will be calling on Congress to codify it. This landlord lock as we call it, it's populist red meat, but lobbyists are going to fight it tooth and nail. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies, whether they rent or they own? We need Operation Warp Speed, but for homes. Yeties, there are a whole bunch of reasons why housing is too expensive.

Starting point is 00:11:16 Wall Street landlords is one of them, but it's actually not the biggest. The biggest driver of housing unaffordability is simply that there aren't enough homes in this country. Enough homes. In our opinion, housing is the number one source of economic anxiety and unhappiness in our country. It's a core reason for the vibe session. So why doesn't housing, this fundamental issue that literally everyone in this country has to deal with? It's a roof over your head. Why can't housing get the same attention from Washington as COVID did during the pandemic or as AI is getting right now? Sure, a landlord lockout would be nice, but what we really need is a nationwide effort to build millions of more homes fast and affordably.

Starting point is 00:11:52 That's what will actually make a dent and actually bring down the insanely high cost of living that pretty much everyone in this country is suffering from. also need is Operation Warp Speed, but this time for Homes. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, it's the second of our stock picks for 2026. It's Reddit. As the world gets flooded with AI, Reddit is an island of realness. That means it's going to make big money in two different ways, but our story finishes with a bold idea for Reddit. Spoiler, we're renaming Reddit. Besties, this stock pick, it was actually full disclosure. What's your Jack's idea? Jack? You want to share the context here? Sprinkled on? Well, when I mentioned it to Jim Kramer in our interview with him, the mad money host on CNBC started hitting me.

Starting point is 00:12:43 He started hitting me for like love, excitement, or anger. Hey, Trey, why don't we play the clip? For example, Jack and I- Give me some. All right. Oh, my God. Oh, Jesus. Oh, like, no.

Starting point is 00:12:55 Stop. Stop. No, this is bad. That's what my dog does that. Stop, stop. No. I don't know. It's unbelievable. This is bad. It's unbelievable.

Starting point is 00:13:03 Great. Now I know Jack and I can tell you he has not showered since Jim Kramer hit that leg. That was a high point in our careers right there. I laminated my thigh, actually, to make sure his germs remain on me. Now let's get into why this is our stock pit. Bestie's Reddit was the rogue social media site. The only one back in the day without profile picks, anonymous everything.

Starting point is 00:13:24 You don't tell anyone your Reddit handled. Maybe your best friend from the street you grew up on. But not even your therapist. And for 20 years, that's a lot. what Reddit was. Basically, the comment section fight club. But in 2024, Reddit buddened up a bit and prepared for an IPO. Got a little more corporate without alienating its power users. And since its IPO, Reddit stock is up nearly 6x. And yet Reddit stock is still worth just 49 billion bucks. Jack, that's not much. Forty-nine billion dollars sounds like a really

Starting point is 00:13:57 valuable company. But compare that to meta? Meta is worth 30 times as much as Reddit. Get down, stand up and upvote that one again. That's one reason why we think Reddit is undervalue. True. The other reason we think Reddit stock is undervalued is that it's uniquely positioned to be an island of realness in the flood of artificial intelligence. Basically, as AI floods the zone, Reddit is Noah's Ark.

Starting point is 00:14:21 Now, we interviewed the CEO of Reddit Steve Huffman last year. We did. And one casual but profound thing that he said, we can't stop thinking about. He said it almost in passing, but here's the quote. Reddit is for real people to talk about stuff. For real people to talk about stuff. I mean, sounds simple, Jack, right?

Starting point is 00:14:40 But actually, it's increasingly rare. You might have seen the CEO of Instagram's post last week. According to Adam Osseri, your feed will soon be full of fake people. And according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, you'll stop reading human-written articles and start reading AI-ridden summaries instead. As we become overwhelmed by a world that's just artificial, AI slop, more and more people will seek out realness. And that is why this year, Reddit is launching a brand new homepage with a new search bar.

Starting point is 00:15:09 It thinks it can become the starting point of your internet journey because everywhere else is just artificial. For those who don't want AI results, they want human results. That is a growth narrative that we just can't stop thinking about. Now, there is business model risk here. Reddit is not a video platform, so they may never earn the advertising dollars that YouTube demands. And Reddit is full of anonymous users, so they can't target ads as well as Zuck can. So our stock pick could be wrong.

Starting point is 00:15:37 It could be wrong. But we think Reddit's realness ironically makes it a hidden artificial intelligence winner. And Steve Huffman, if you're listening, let us know what you think in the comments. And Steve Huffman, if you're listening, thanks for giving me possibly the coolest thing about me. This is so cool. My Reddit handle is Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Reddit? Reddit should change its ticker symbol to real.

Starting point is 00:16:00 E-A-L. Guess who else wants human results these days? AI! AI wants human results. Reddit is the number one site that OpenAI and Google need access to to keep their large language models up to date with what's actually happening in the world. In fact, Wall Street expects Reddit's licensing contract with Google to 4X in price this year. So add it all up, on one side, you got more people coming to Reddit, and that means more

Starting point is 00:16:28 advertising revenue. And Jack, on the other side, you got more. more AI models training on Reddit, which means more licensing dollars. You didn't read it on Reddit yet, you heard it right here on the best one yet. Yes, you did. Reddit is our stock pick of 2026. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Poppy and Oli Poppy and Oli Popper. Our tribal soda disruptors launched Shirley Temple's four days apart from each other.

Starting point is 00:16:53 That is not R&D. That is S&D. Scroll to see what's trending and then develop it. For our second story, President Trump said he's going to going to end corporate home buying so families can buy the homes instead. It's the landlord lockout, but even more helpful, Operation Warp Speed, but for homes. And our third and final story is our second of our three stock picks for 2026, Reddit. Reddit. It's an island of realness in the flood of AI. We think Reddit should change their ticker symbol to R-E-A-L. Real.

Starting point is 00:17:24 But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, we got ourselves a Mick lawsuit. McDonald's just got sued over the McRib sandwich, apparently ain't no rib in that thing. Class action lawsuit. The pork in the McRib is heart, tripe, and scalded pig stomach. Wow, that's appetizing. Technical terms. Shocker, by the way, those are all lower-grade meats, which are then shaped into a rib-sized format. Reminds us of the subway fake tuna fiasco. McRibb is a McFib. Yeah, the McFuna, McFib. Allegedly.

Starting point is 00:17:56 And second, wild week over at DoorDash. Get this. They're dealing with an epic. AI trolling scam right now. With the help of AI, someone pretended to be a DoorDash employee and reveal online deep dark secrets about the company. Apparently this dude used AI to create a deep fake badge and then post it to make it look like he was a real employee saying DoorDash had desperation ratings on its drivers. But all of the secrets that he purportedly leaked, they were all fake. As was the badge, it's a deep fake situation happening randomly at DoorDash. And finally, we forgot to the best stock market at 2025. You know what it was? We'll give you a pause. South Korea. South Korea's benchmark stock market index rose 75% last year, which is the best performance of any

Starting point is 00:18:44 global stock market on earth. Now, that was driven by chipmaker stocks, which are based in Korea, but also interestingly, by a range of consumer brands. Korean noodle stocks, Korean beauty stocks, K-pop Demon Hunter. Yes, talk to me, Jack. Korea is very end. It's probably season five of the White Lotus. Because season four is France. You know that, right? Spoiler! Now, time for the best fact yet. This one ripped up by Frankie Bush over in Southern California. The college football playoff semifinals happened tonight, Thursday, and tomorrow Friday. Yeah, we got Indiana, Ole Miss, Oregon, and Miami still in it. But only one of those four teams has two specific records. Get this. One of those four remaining teams has the most uniform combinations

Starting point is 00:19:28 that the players get to wear. And that same team has the loudest stadium per capita. And that team is Oregon. Oregon, which is the Nike school, Phil Knight's their biggest donor, has 12 different helmets they wear, much less jerseys and pants. And Oregon also has the sixth loudest stadium of all the teams with only 54,000 seats. Loudest stadium per capita. That's a statistic I didn't know existed, but Oregon is best and the best.

Starting point is 00:19:57 As a Nike shareholder, I can tell you, I hope that was a write-off jack. Yettys, you look fantastic for the new Friday. And if you haven't yet, remember to drop down and give us five stars, rate and review the show. We love seeing them to kick off the year. Guys, we have 9.9,000 reviews on Spotify. I think like a month ago, I asked you to get us to 10,000. We didn't get there. And now it's our New Year's resolution for this year.

Starting point is 00:20:23 Oh, and by the way, if you're listening, Steve Huffman, I would love to get the Reddit handle, Nick. We should talk. Sure, somebody else might have it, but we could talk to some people who know some people. If you know, you know. A happy birthday to Yeti Clay Green down in Sneedville, Tennessee, doing a life reset this year. Congrats and good luck, Clay. And happy birthday to Kara Fuller in Hobie Sound, Florida.

Starting point is 00:20:50 Your bestie can't wait to reunite with you soon. And Tammy conquer it. In Alpine, Utah is an OG snacker turned Yeti. Happy birthday, the legendary Tammy. And a big shout-out to Louis Vasquez, who got a reservation at sushi Zan Mai to try that most expensive tuna fish, the Black Diamond. Louis, send us a DM or drop a comment. We can't wait to hear on that tuna taste. And a big thank you to Brian Quinn for featuring T-Boy on his YouTube channel and for listening to the show every day. Brian, thanks for being a legendary Yeti. Fantastic to have you with us.

Starting point is 00:21:23 This is Jack. I own stock of Reddit and Disney and nickel in stock of Nike.

The Best One Yet - 2️⃣ “Upvote” — Our Reddit Stock Pick. Shirley Temple’s surge. Trump’s Landlord Lockout.

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