The Best One Yet - 🐒 “$4B for a fake monkey party” — Bored Ape Yacht Club’s metaverse. Uber’s NYC yellow cab. The $10 Trillion Man’s prediction.

Episode Date: March 25, 2022

The most famous collection of NFTs has raised huge VC money to build a metaverse to compete with Facebook’s. After years of fighting against taxis, Uber just partnered with the most famous taxi network there is: NYC’s yellow cabs. And Larry Fink manages $10 trillion of money, and just predicted the end of Globalization as we know it. $UBERGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformID: 2095886Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So I just said in my head, I will stop hiccuping. And then I pictured in my esophagus, the hiccup stop. And then you threw up? Okay. No, get to go. Now it gets to go. Here we go. This is Nick.

This is Jack. And this is Snacks Daily. It is Friday. The real Friday. It made it to March 25th. Stocks did better yesterday. Yeah, it did. Brackets got worse yesterday.

This pod, though, it's the best one yet. Honestly, it's a T-B-O-I, best we've ever done. Jack, first story for the T-boy. Remember how Uber's founder, Travis Kalinick, declared war against taxis. I think it was yesterday. That war is over. Yeah, the new Uber Snackers move fast, then meant things.

Our second story is the B-Ape Yacht Club. 10,000 extremely unique primate pictures. Yeah, well, now the B-Ape Yacht Club is becoming a virtual club worth a very real $4 billion with a B-dollars. Our third and final story is about the $10 trillion man. Trillion with a T. He just made a prediction about the world's economy. Yeah, Larry Fink thinks globalization is funked. Snackers, before we have a lot.

that wonderful mix. Fantastic mix to go into the weekend with. We got to talk about the first female Secretary of State who passed away this week. Yeah, Madeline Albright broke a government glass ceiling back in 1997. Secretary of State, I think we can say, it's the most important job besides the president. The Secretary of State is the president outside of the borders. Madeline Albright's family fled Hitler's Nazis, then Stalin's communists. Ultimately, she was welcomed to the United States as a refugee.

Yeah, where she became a professor at Georgetown. Pretty good class she was teaching, too. She taught about modern optocracies. Pretty relevant class today. But Snackers, little known fact about Madeline Albright, that's actually a wild snack fact. When she was Secretary of State, she used jewelry as a deal-making tool. Yeah, Madeline Albright wielded pins and brooches as an instrument of diplomacy. She would wear different jewelry to signal different messages to different leaders she was talking to. Okay, Jack, let's jump in Snacks style. For example, if she was optimistic about a deal happening.

She would wear a butterfly pin. If she was frustrated, a deal was going too slowly. She would show it by wearing a snail pin for all to see. Get this. When she met Saddam Hussein, she decided to wear a snake brooch. To signal to the Iraqi leader, don't mess with me. Oh, and then she kicked things up a notch. When she had a meeting in Russia, she wore a bug pin.

She's like, I know this conversation's not private. I know this room is bug. So she wore the bug pin. And when she met Vladimir Putin two decades ago, she wore a monkey pin. Fascinating story. It was one of those, Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, monkey pins. So President Putin was talking to Malin-Aubray. He's like, hey, why are you wearing this monkey pin as your jewelry today?

Her response? Because your policies in Cheshneyat are evil. Wow. Madeline Albright, aged 84. She wore it on her sleep. Let's sit on three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about the hair ain't food. It's air candy.

They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational. just so you know. We're not recommending any securities. Nope. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Right.

Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member Fenra slash SIPC. For our first story, Uber stock just jumped 4%. Honestly, a total surprise. Didn't see this coming. Shocker deal. After 13 years of fighting until the end,

Uber and New York City's yellow taxi cabs are hugging it out. It's a kumbaya. Oh, by the way, have you seen that new Uber movie? Super pumped? No, I want to. Yeah. It's on Showtime. Showtime, where schmovies go to not be watched.

Have you seen billions? Yeah, I've seen billions, man. Like, come on. We all seen billions. I did borrow my brother's passion. Are you really getting your own for that one? Snackers. Uber, it's going through a new phase of life, a midlife growth crisis.

Yes. During the pandemic, people weren't hailing rides. So drivers left Uber. Yeah, now we got ourselves like a 50 cent fee for high gas prices. Not fun. Both of those things have driven up the price of an Uber ride. They have. And so in nearly three years as a publicly traded stock, Uber stock is down 17% from their IPR.

We repeat, Uber stock is down from where it started trading three years ago. So Uber has decided to turn to the very thing that it sought to destroy from the start. That? which hath been its enemy, is now thy ally? New York City yellow taxi cabs. Boom, Snackers, shocker from the Wall Street Journal, Uber has partnered with the iconic New York City yellow taxi.

I love the calves. Those Nissan van cabs are so roomy and comfortable. You can nap. And my favorite part, the glass transparent ceiling so I can look up at all those really tall buildings. Jack, when you get to JFK, you can't take an Uber. You got to take a cab. Like, he just got to.

But this is an insane. foe to friend transformation. I'm so glad you said a check. This is Batman hooking up with Bain. This is Hermione and Draco Malfoy sipping a butter beer together. This is Frodo and Gaugh. Move fast and men relationships. Is that what Uber's doing? Jack, are you thinking

Regina George and Janice over there? I don't know, are we? You go, Glenn Coco. So Snackers, here's how New York City yellow cabs are going to look to you as a rider when you open the Uber app. First, you're going to open the Uber app. But instead of like some black Acura with like plastic on the seats and more waters than you ever could

hydrate with. You're going to get a yellow Ford Escape taxi cab in New York. Yes, 14,000 yellow cabs are now going to populate those little vehicles moving around on the map on your Uber app in addition to the random chassis out there. So if you get in one of these taxis on Uber, it'll be the same price as an UberX late night ride from that artichoke pizza to Avenue A. Same price as UberX always is, just very different looking paint color. Yeah, but the whole fleet of taxis, they can now accept a ride in the Uber app. Or they can continue what they used to do, if you're a taxi. You can pick up someone who raises their hand on the sidewalk.

Which for the record, Jack, having perfected the index finger hail, I continue to do and I shall continue to do. Is that so? I just can't give up that physical hail reflex. But Snackers, Uber, Uber's not UNICEF. They're not doing this for free. They're going to take a cut. Not necessarily like the typical 20% cut, but Uber's going to take a cut.

It's still Uber after all. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our? Everybody's yelling, taxi over at Uber. Uber. One, yellow cab taxis, they're tapping out. Okay, Snackers. New York City's taxi cab businesses, it's actually a horribly sad story. They have just been squeezed by the competition from Uber.

Relentlessly. And the pandemic was the final squeeze on the finances of New York City yellow cab drivers. And they're tapping out. So instead of fighting Uber, New York City yellow cabs will now help Uber. They're now going to help generate revenue for. Uber. That's wild. In fact, Uber announced yesterday they planned their next wave of growth will be from taxis. So it's almost messed up. Uber destroyed taxis, but now Uber is going to depend on taxis. Taxis are desperate because of Uber and now they're turning to Uber. Uber also

just announced another big goal related to this. Uber wants all the world's taxis to join the Uber app by 2025. Uber won and it dictated the terms of peace. Our second story, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is now worth, get this, $4 billion for digital pictures of monkeys. This Bored Ape Yacht Club is the clearest picture we've seen of what the heck a metaverse is. Or will become, I should say. I love A's said that, but Jack, I'll take it from here. You ready?

Here we go. The Bored Ape Yacht Club just launched an ape coin, is building a digital monkey swamp, and raised half a billion dollars from. for virtual chimp condos. If you said that sentence a year ago, people would stop talking to you. Nick and Jack, hey, look, it's just us, but you need help. The Borde Apeia Club, Snackers, it began as 10,000 digital images of primate profile pics. Exactly. Now you've got the drilling ape, you got the lethargic ape, they've got a melatonin ape.

And 9,997 more, including the Zonk Dave. I love Zonk Dave. They all looked a little Zonk. Now, each of these apes is an NEMUES. FT, which means it's unique, and it's both visually unique looking, and it is one of a kind. It's one of a kind because a token on the blockchain proves who the one owner is and the only owner is. Now, the reason we said a year ago you would have been crazy is because this launched a year ago. And each of these digital apes just cost $300.

Probably sounded like a high price a year ago. Because no one knew what the heck this was. Today, they're going for $270,000. We just checked on OpenCit. Yeah, it started as a $300 digital image of a monkey, and now it's worth nearly 300 grand. And it's a status symbol. It is. Rolling up to Miami with a Bitcoin wallet and a Bored Ape pick. You can't hang out with you. Jack, it's the Rolex of Crypto. I don't wait and lie. This is a lupiton heel of Ethereum. Look at this. But Snaggers, here's a Jack and I mind fascinating about this story. Recently, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, it's evolved from digital art into a digital world. From a digital collection of images to a planet, you can virtually live in.

This month, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club bought another bunch of NFTs called the Cryptopunks. It's called Yuga Labs. That's the company. And they now own the two biggest collections of NFTs. And last week, the BordApe Yac Club launched their very own money, the old ape coin. That's a cryptocurrency. You can trade with your Bord Ape Yacht Club buddies. And Jack, what is the value of all the brand new ape coins that are out there to trade with your Board Ape Yacht Club buddies. We just checked. The market cap is $4 billion.

$4 billion for the board ape, ape coin. That is like a third of a lift. What are you going to do with an ape coin, Nick? It's a good question, Jack. Well, you're going to go into a digital world, which the BoredApe Yacht Club happens to be building now. That's the latest news. The apes, they just raised $450 million. A huge round of private fundraising from Andrews and Horwitz to build a metaverse called

The Swamp. You know what? Jack and I jumped and snacked out. Actually, you got to see the trailer for this thing. We should tweet out the trailer, Jack. It's a minute and a half. It's great. It starts with the doors, break on through to the other side.

Jim Morrison, never gets old. And then there's a ape just chilling, smoking a cigar by a pond. He's fishing. And he drinks some thing that causes this place to go insane. Yeah, then he, like, falls into a party, which happens to be in an erupting volcano. And he's like hanging out with a bunch of other crypto buddies. Snackers, it's impressive. I don't know what to say.

It was actually, yeah. really high production quality. It's very high. Like, I want to play in this place. For $4 billion, they better hire a couple of editors. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the Bored Ape Yacht Club? The Swamp is the clearest picture yet of what the Metaverse could be. Yes.

An exclusive, immersive virtual economy. Snackers, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, it started as artwork. And then it became the most valuable NFTs on Earth. Now, those Bored Apes are your ticket into this metaverse, known as the Swamp. Which is another sentence we thought we'd never say. Then Snackers, the BoredApe Yacht Club Metaverse is where you're going to buy digital real estate in their Bored ApeD digital swamp. And pay for it with ape coins. Yes, the virtual ape coins are how you do all this.

So it began with identity. The NFT. And then currency. The ape coin. And now a virtual world. The ticket for admission to this virtual world, the swamp. It's a bored ape, a crypto punk, or any other NFT that Yuga Labs is whipping up. It's the clearest picture we've seen yet.

For our third and final story before the weekend, the $10 trillion man have proclaimed an end to the era of globalization as we know it. Larry Fink thinks the world's countries will stop trading with each other. A bold claim from Larry Fink. Larry Fink, the co-founder of BlackRock, been CEO for BlackRock, by the way, Jack, for longer than we've been alive. 34 years? Yeah, 34 years.

There we go. Actually, did you see when he became CEO of BlackRock? 1988. When he was 35, he became the CEO of BlackRock at 35. So he's been CEO for half his life. Yeah. Which is the same length as our entire lives. A little bit more.

There's some kind of math in there, but Snaggers BlackRock, they managed $10 trillion dollars through their mutual funds. Yeah. If you own a 401k, you might have money in that $10 trillion. Ifso facto, Larry Fink is the $10 trillion man. Because when Larry Fink invests, stocks move. Yeah. With one clip.

Larry can move billions of dollars of money into or out of Nike or General Mills or Sony stocks. Larry Fink is the whale-liest of whales. And nobody can make a bigger splash than old lair. Now, Lair just wrote his annual shareholder letter. Yeah, he did. And unlike Christmas Cones, this is a letter you actually want to read. For example, key line here, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we've experienced over the last three decades. Snackers, globalization. We're talking abundant international trade, importing and exporting among a bunch

of countries. Also talking global markets. So Poland can borrow money from American investors. That's what Larry's into. Globalization leads to better efficiency, lower costs, and better relations when countries trade with each other. But the way Larry's saying things, the pandemic was a wake-up call that you can't always depend on foreign countries for critical stuff like computer chips. Larry also thinks that Russia's invasion of Ukraine, reinforced the end of the era of globalization that we've enjoyed since the end of the Cold War, as we know it. Now, Snackers, there are major economic consequences to ending globalization.

But there's also major consequences for world peace. Yeah, here's one fascinating kind of side effect of globalization. Countries that trade with each other, they tend not to fight each other. I mean, every trade is a win-win. Oh, totally. You need chips? Because both sides say, yes, I want what you have, and I'm willing to give you what I have. I got chocolate. You need the avocados. So it's sad if there's fewer win-wins between countries.

Yeah, because trade doesn't just create wealth. Trade can actually prevent wars. So it's not good news for the world if the world is trading less. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all of our buddies who've been globalized last 30 years? Globalization has benefited the highest income Americans and the lowest income Americans the most. In the 80s and 90s, America began outsourcing what we make to countries where it was cheaper. Why? Because today, American workers, are nine times more expensive than Chinese workers are.

Now, companies pocketed a big chunk of those savings is profit, and that boosted stocks in investor portfolios. But globalization has also been good for people who don't own stocks because they've lowered costs for everyday things that we buy. It is insane that a 55-inch 4K internet-enhanced Wi-Fi-enabled TV only costs like 300 bucks at Walmart. Nick, in 1988, when Larry Fink started his job, that TV would have exploded his head.

head. It is such a good product. You can thank globalization. That's why Nick and I think higher prices have helped high income Americans most in the stock market and low income Americans most with low prices. But blue-collar non-college educated Americans, they've suffered badly from globalization. Yes. And if Larry Fink is right, we might start making some of our own things here in America again. And then middle class workers could find more high-paying factory jobs. If we are coming to the end of globalization, it could actually be a good thing for blue-collar workers. But if Larry's right, it'll also mean paying for the wealthiest and poorest

Americans. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us before the weekend? The entire fleet of New York City Yellowcabs is joining Uber's app. Yeah, moving fast and mend things. Uber won, now it wants all the taxis in the world. For a second story, board apes were a

digital art collection. Now they also have a cryptocurrency and are building a metaverse. It is the clearest picture we've ever seen yet of what the Metaverse could actually be. For our third of all start, Larry Fink, whose letters are usually on point, predicts an end to globalization as we know. It would hurt the top and bottom income Americans, but it would help the middle. Now, Snackers, time for our snack fact of the day.

Remember how yesterday's snack fact was about how the word spinning is trademarked? Today's snack fact is a follow-up snack fact from Mark Gustafson in lovely Santa Monica, California. Mark Gustafson and Spinlister.com in Santa Monica, California. Not only is spinning trademark, so is spin the dockless scooter company and spinlister, the Airbnb marketplace of bikes. All companies have an agreement to mutually exist and compete independently. There's just no spinning that one, Nick. I know.

Oh, I told you that there was a snacker when I went to SoulCycle who worked at the Soul Cycle. Yeah, I think it was a minor celebrity moment for you. It was a size 11 shoes. And it was kind of exciting. I love minor celebrity moments. I was kind of like, can we put the pot on for the end of the class? Can I tell you, they're like six or seven Snackers who come up to me and said, are you Nick? No, I'm Jack, but I'm flattered.

What I love, they all think I'm Jack. Snackers, enjoy the Oscars this weekend. Jack and I will see you Monday. I just checked. If you cut the cord, you can't watch. So you're going to have to borrow somebody's password. Spoiler, Gaga's going to get snubbed. And before we go, we go.

We're going to do these in chronological age order. Happy birthday to Elias Jude Rogers, who's turning one in Baytown, Texas. Happy birthday to Aurora Eno's. Great name, who's turning three in Nashville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, A.J. Henry also turning three down in Austin. Happy 24th to Alexis Mitchell in Frankfurt, Kentucky. And Ethan Kibler hitting the Big 3-0 in Maryland. Happy birthday to the musical Kevin Herrick, who's turning 33 in New Mexico.

Oh, and Jack, Nina Vila, got a birthday. down in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Happy birthday to Mandy A. in Gilbert, Arizona. And Nikki Nixon in Silver Spring, Maryland. And Josh Menace in Reno, Nevada. And Cooper Reddinger in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Reno, Nevada. I think it's Nevada.

It's Emma. And Billy Stone, happy birthday in Herndon, Virginia. Happy birthday to Mandip in Modesto, California. And Reed, just congrats on nine years in the Army. Thanks for your service. Congrats to Dean Hottom, who's graduating in Atlanta. And Emily and Alex, getting married today. in Austin.

Congrats to Valerie and Diego, who just got engaged after 10 years in Mexico City. And happy birthday to my biggest big bro, Nick, Nick Kramer, down in Guilford, Vermont. Nick, there is no one else we would want in charge of a nuclear power plant than you. He's got it on lockdown. This is Jack. Nick and I both own some Bitcoin and Ethereum, and we both own stock of Airbnb. Robin Hood Snacks, Newsletters, and podcasts reflect the opinions of only the authors, who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC, and do not reflect. the views of Robin Hood Markets Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are meant for

informational purposes only and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, cryptocurrency, or investment strategy in any account. This is not an offer or sale of a security, not a research report, and is not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robinood Markets Inc., Robinto Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, including loss of principle and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.