The Best One Yet - 👟 “Air Force Kirkland” — Nike’s Costco sneaker. Amex’s $895 mirror card. Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation. +Kevin Durant’s crypto password.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday the real Friday. September 19th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yeties, we're going to make you the most interesting person from brunch to the boardroom. Three fantastic stories for today's pod. Jack, what do we got on the T-boy? For our first story, the MX Platinum card increased their annual credit card fee to what? 895 bucks. I'm sorry. We crunched the math on whether this almost $900 fee is worth it, and we also have an AI life hack to go with it. Yes, we do, besties. For our second story, Jimmy Kimmel's show being canceled by ABC was the talk of every news show yesterday.

Starting point is 00:00:46 But if you follow the money, and we follow the money, you can see a $6 billion acquisition that drove the entire story. And our third and final story. Did Nike just collab with Costco for a Kirkland-branded sneaker? Well, Jack, the internet thing. so. If this is real, we bet Nike leaked those pictures on purpose. And we will explain why. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, no one else is doing that mix. Love the mix today, Jack. Kevin Duran, he's a 6'11 basketball star and he's got a problem. He's not in foul trouble. He's in

Starting point is 00:01:20 password trouble. Because the 15-time NBA All-Star forgot the password to his Coinbase account. He's literally locked out of his crypto right now. Kevin Durant. But Nick, here's the wild part. Kevin Durant's agent is thrilled that he can't remember his password. Because get this, Durant forgot his password back in 2016. So for nine straight years, he hasn't been able to log into his crypto account. But his Bitcoin hasn't just sat there, Nick. No.

Starting point is 00:01:48 His Bitcoin has gone to the moon. Since he last logged into Coinbase, the price of Bitcoin has gone from 700 bucks to 160. 17,000 bucks. So by doing nothing for nine years, Kevin Durant has enjoyed a 17,000 percent return. Sit down, stand up, and touch the rim again, Jack. Nick, if he had been able to log in all these years, he probably would have sold, right? But he hasn't been able to log in, so he's been hodeling this entire time. One of the greatest investments in the history of pro sports is a complete accident.

Starting point is 00:02:21 An accident he is not trying to fix anytime soon, Jack. He's not mad at all at Coinbase customer service. but the funniest part, we actually suggested this as an investment strategy earlier this year. We did a whole story. The best way for your investments to grow long term is put money in the market and then forget about it. And the best way to forget about it is to literally forget your password. So yet is this is not investing advice, but it is investing advice. Forget your password. Just forget your password. Worked for Kevin Durant.

Starting point is 00:02:51 Mm-hmm. Probably work for you. I don't even know what we're talking about, Jack. Besties, what's in our three stories. 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 a norm 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 cause we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show start the show first a quick word

Starting point is 00:03:26 from our sponsor for our first story american express just jacked up the annual fee of its platinum card to 895 bucks. And we've got a special strategy to make sure that that 895 bucks pays for itself. Okay. But before we tell you that special strategy, first, Jack, let's go back to the year 1850 when a mail and freight business was founded in upstate Buffalo, New York by Henry Wells and William Fargo. Yeah. Now, they already had co-founded a bank together or called Wells Fargo, but did you know those two guys also launched a shipping business called American Express? True story.

Starting point is 00:04:13 And 50 years later, they invented something called Travelers checks they would ship to you while you were traveling. 50 years after that, they pioneered the first credit card. Now, the first AMX credit card, it wasn't plastic, it was actually paper. And the annual fee was just $6. Not too shabby, because here's the news. For the first time in four years, they've jacked up the car. price of that annual MX fee to $895.95. To get into the Centurion Lounge at JFK, you have to cough up

Starting point is 00:04:44 almost half a month's rent. Oh, and by the way, this new card is not made out of metal. It's actually made out of a mirror material. So you can see the shock on your own face jack as you pull out the card to overspend on another cute top. I didn't realize Chrome was back in fashion. Now, Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, they recently jacked up their fee. We covered it on this pod. saw their increase and raised them another $100. Your move, Jamie, your move. Now, American Express stock, it's at an all-time high. So why are they doing this?

Starting point is 00:05:15 It's not just because they're confident. They're doing it for the dinks. They're doing it for the dinks. Because Yetis, the top 10% of all income earners in America are doing 50% of the spending in this economy. And within that 10% of top earners are a lot of dinks, couples that have double income and no kids. Get this, a record three out of four new Amex customer,

Starting point is 00:05:35 is actually under the age of 30 these days. And we found data that said that couples without kids spend four times as much money on restaurants and two times as much money on vacations as couples with kids. But besties, we know the real question you want to know. So Jack and I did the money math, the MX arithmetic for you.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Basically, is it worth it? This $895 annual fee. Now, of course, American Express wants you to think yes. So when you Google American Express, they're like, we have doubled our purse. That's the news they're leading with. MX now says they have $3.5,000 in available perks in credits and benefits with this card if you maximize them. But pretty much like literally only the points guy maximizes and gets all those values of benefits.

Starting point is 00:06:22 Here's the deal. You can get $200 in Amex in airline credits, $600 in hotel credits, $200 credit on Uber, $200 credit on Clear, and $300 in credit on Equinox Gym memberships. The old Amex Platinum had all those already. The new benefits, though, are a $75 Lululemon credit, a $200 or a ring credit, a $100 a $100 Rezi credit if you pay for your dinner tab with the Rezi app, which I didn't even know you could do. Yeah, we didn't know that. So basically what Jack and I are saying is, if you fly to France and stay at the Ritz

Starting point is 00:06:55 and take an Uber to the Equinox Paris for a workout and then stop at Lulu Lemon on the Champsaleise before getting a Rezi dinner reservation at a local French bistro, then the $895 fee was paid for with all those perks you just racked up. That's when you break even and it works out. But the real winners of this MX jacket up their annual fee, it might actually be Capital One in Citibank, because their competing cards still have annual fees that are half as expensive. So they might catch some angry Amexers downgrading to their Capital One dink cards.

Starting point is 00:07:28 They feel like frogs boiling in a pot of water and 895 degrees, that's a lot of degrees. That's hotter than I realize, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Amex? One way to use artificial intelligence is to cut through the perk perplexity. You see, Yeti's, the biggest complaint of luxurious Cartier-style dink credit cards out there is it's simply too confusing to navigate the perks. It's hard to take advantage of all the benefits you're entitled to because many of the credits are not automatic.

Starting point is 00:07:59 You only get that $200 hotel credit if you ask American Express. to give it to you. Because in the credit card business, they proudly offer perks, but the hope is you don't use them. And if you don't use the perks that they offered you, Amex books them as profit. It's an industry standard. It's called breakage. It's kind of like an unused gift card. That is a profit puppy for the credit card industry. And because they're financially incentivized for you not to use the perks, that's why it can feel like such a maze on the MX website and the benefit button is... It's perplexed, yes. So a power. The powerful use of AI, Jack and I have discovered, is to review your spending and ensure that you're getting the perks you're entitled to with the software that can actually figure out if they're maximized.

Starting point is 00:08:43 Just download the PDF of your statement, upload it to your AI chatbot, and say, am I getting all my points that I'm entitled to? Yeah, we dove in T-Bois style and tried it before this pod. Yeties, it is a risk to the credit card industry, but it is a win for consumers. If you use AI to cut through the perk perplexity. For our second story, the Jimmy Kimmel show has been taken off air by ABC, and a big reason, a $6 billion acquisition that needs the FCC's approval. It's part of a trend, the MAGA takeover of big media. Yeties, this story begins on Monday night when Jimmy Kimmel used the monologue to his late-night

Starting point is 00:09:25 talk show to talk about Charlie Kirk and President Trump. You've probably seen the video by now. Jimmy Kimmel criticized the MAGA gang and the presidents. And two days later, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show would be taken off air indefinitely. You probably heard that too. But to understand this story completely, you have to follow the money. And you have to look up at the airwaves. So Jack, let's sprinkle on some broadcast context here. You see, Yeties, the largest TV broadcaster in the country is trying to acquire another TV broadcaster for $6 billion right now. The company in question is called NextStar. And They own a bunch of ABC, Fox and CBS affiliate channels across the country.

Starting point is 00:10:07 Basically, whip open your TV in Channel 3, Channel 4, or Channel 5. Odds are one of those channels is owned by this media giant Next Star. But to get even bigger and to acquire this competitor of theirs, they need special approval from the FCC. Yes, special approval because of a special law. You see, no broadcaster in America is allowed to control 39% of the market, interestingly. So this merger, it's so big, they would need an exception in order for it to happen. And on Wednesday, Brandon Carr, the chairman of the SEC, the guy who would give that exception because he regulates the airwaves, he went on a podcast and complained about the quote-unquote

Starting point is 00:10:46 talentless Jimmy Kimmel and his monologue from Monday night. We're talking about the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, urging TV broadcasters on this podcast to take Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air. And then he said this. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. That was a barely veiled threat to the broadcasters because he can take away their broadcasting license. Well, hours later, Nexstar did what Carr asked for on that podcast

Starting point is 00:11:12 and said they won't put Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show on their airwaves. And then ABC, which produces the show, canceled Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely. So besties, that's where we are today. Did Jimmy Kimmel's monologue offend people? Yes. Does ABC have the right to fire him for his? words? Yes. But can the FCC, an arm of the federal government, threaten broadcasters to censor speech that they don't like? Well, we'll see if Jimmy Kimmel takes this to court saying his First Amendment

Starting point is 00:11:41 rights to free speech have been violated. But in the meantime, we whipped up this takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone watching content these days? The media ecosystem in America, historically perceived as blue, is suddenly quite red. Yet he's We first started noticing this with Zuck and Elon Musk, owners of Instagram and X, as they became MAGA boosters over the last couple years. Meta turned MAGA. And then Trump sued ABC, NBC and CBS for alleged defamation in their news coverage, getting million-dollar settlements from each of those news organizations. Then Larry Ellison, a Trump mega donor, bought CBS with his son in that giant Paramount merger. And he may soon own CNN if he acquires Warner Brothers, which reports say Larry Ellison is thinking about doing.

Starting point is 00:12:31 Okay, but that's not all, Jack. Let's talk about TikTok for a second, right? Today, Trump is meeting with China, and he's expected to announce that TikTok is being sold to Larry Ellison and fellow Trump donors, Mark Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, among others. Add it all up, and this is the most sudden transformation in the media industry probably ever. For some it's a shock and for others it's a welcome change. A massive management shift from blue to red. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story before the weekend, did Nike just team up with Costco to make a Kirkland branded sneaker?

Starting point is 00:13:14 We don't think so, but the internet does. So we're looking at when companies leak something on purpose. Yeties, we'll cut right to the drama. Pictures of a new Nike dunk sneaker with a Kirkland label hit the internet this week and people paused the pod. Before we talk about Nike plus Kirkland, Nike's been collaborating with everybody recently. I mean, Jack, I'm whipping out the whiteboard here. What is it? Like, how many at this point? At least 14 collaborations in the last year by Nike. Since the new CEO took over one year ago, Nike has done collabs with Kim Kardashian skims, sushi restaurant Nobu, but also collabs with the anime

Starting point is 00:13:53 series, Yu-Gi-O, the rap group Wu-Tang Clan, and Legos. I'm sorry, can we call a brand strategy emergency session right now? Where are we going? What direction, guys? And now, according to leaked photos, Nike is collabing with Costco for the Kirkland signature skateboarding shoe. I mean, the only brand they haven't collared with yet is like the Shark Ninja Nike Jack with an Air Force One air friar.

Starting point is 00:14:17 When are we getting in that? Now, back to the sneaker. It looks like it's crafted out of a gray Kirkland sweatshirt. Suburban dads are definitely going to buy four packs of these once they hit the shelves. I mean, Jack, nothing pairs better with a chicken bake than a size 11 Air Force Kirkland right. Now, the feedback online about this leaked photo, outrageous excitement. One guy said, I basically have to have these.

Starting point is 00:14:39 The only constructive criticism we saw in the comments was to change the swoosh to a hot dog logo. And charge a dollar and 50 cents for these things, if you don't mind. Now, Jack and I are not conspiracy theorists, but our three favorite words in conspiracy theory are these. If true, huge. Because we looked everywhere for confirmation that these leaked photos were real, but we couldn't find confirmation. Jack and I do a lot of research on every story that we cover. And the original source of the leaked Costco Nike shoe was a photo from a random Instagram account. And then all the online articles we read referred back to that one Instagram account. So that made us quite suss. Like usually the source is a

Starting point is 00:15:23 press release, or an on-the-record quote from one of the executives. But another red flag here is that the photo shows a Costco price tag on this Nike sneaker, but it's not in the font of the typical Costco style. Suss. But in today's online world, what's online seems like reality. Yeah, so if this is true, huge. But also, Nike might be a little over-collabbed right now. At this point, there is an overwhelming

Starting point is 00:15:52 collabalanche of Nike collabs, if we may say so. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, if you partner with everyone, then you stand for nothing. And Nike, their revenue is down 10% right now. The stock is off 40% from its all-time high. I mean, Nike, what would you say, Jack?

Starting point is 00:16:08 You can't just collab your way out of this hole. Now, Basties, neither Nike nor Costco have issued comments on these leaked photos thus far. Which we think is brilliant because of our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway from Our buddy is over at Nike. It's the art of the intentional leak.

Starting point is 00:16:25 Now, Yetis, if these shoes are real, we bet Nike leak the pictures of them on purpose. Why? To measure how people would react. Exactly. Nike has social media sentiment trackers that tell them how people are talking about their brand online, either positively or negatively.

Starting point is 00:16:42 So perhaps Nike thought, hey, a collaboration with Costco is a risk. Is it aspirational enough for our brand? How about we test this out? with a leak. If the reaction to our leaked photo is positive online, we'll push it forward in the development and launch it for the holiday season.

Starting point is 00:16:58 But if the reaction isn't positive enough online, then we'll kill the project and move on at no cost. And even if these shoes aren't real, maybe the positive reaction online will get Nike to call up Costco and say, hey, you want to make Kirkland sneakers? People seem to want them. Get ideate the whole thing.

Starting point is 00:17:14 Yetty, sometimes a leak is a problem. You lose sensitive information or you lose momentum for a real. planned announcement. But the intentional leak can be a low-cost way to test things to gauge the public's reaction. Now, besties, we do not know if these Air Force Kirklands are real or not, but they could be the art of the intentional leak. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? American Express increased their annual fee by 29% on the platinum card to $895. That is the highest in the market.

Starting point is 00:17:51 But Yetis, you can use AI to cut through the perk perplexity. For our second story, Jimmy Kimmel's show is over after the biggest broadcast company did what the FCC chair asked them to do. It's all part of a transformation in American media, from blue to red. And our third and final story, Nike is collabing with Costco on Kirkland sneakers, according to leaked photos that went viral this week. If true, huge. But also, this may actually be the art of the intentional leak. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, shocker, Krispy Kreme jumped 15% after FBI director Cash Patel said he is long on the donut stock.

Starting point is 00:18:33 Get this, during Patel's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, a representative asked him about his buying of individual stocks, including Krispy Kreme. And the FBI director said, I just follow certain industries, and I thought they would be a good investment. The next day, the stock, which I own, by the way, jumped 16%. It was the most lucrative congressional testimony I've ever been a part of. And second, Intel's stock jumped 30% on the market on a $5 billion investment from Nvidia. Yeti's Intel was America's one chip company that unfortunately couldn't make the best chips. But Intel's story has done a complete 180 in the last month.

Starting point is 00:19:12 First, we told you the federal government got a 10% stake in Intel stock in exchange for government grants. And now, the world's top chip company is co-owner of Intel and asking Intel to design chips for them. And finally, New York State just banned phones in schools statewide. For public schools and charter schools, each school is going to have to figure out their own policy, but they're going to have to block cell phone uses. You know what this means. What does it mean, Jack? Kids have to send messages with spitballs again. Now, Yetty's time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me. Odds are, statistically speaking, your birthday party is this weekend.

Starting point is 00:19:52 Yeah, it's because nine out of the top ten birthdays are in this month of September. The most popular birthdays of the year are September birthdays. And we know what you're doing, the back of the envelope math on the numbers here, too. Oh, September minus nine months? Must have been a fun New Year's Eve party. But besties, here's the plot twist on the September birthday surge. It turns out September birthday people are smarter than us. Because think about it. Kids born in September tend to be the oldest kids in their grade. So here's some data from the National Bureau of Economic Research on the success academically of

Starting point is 00:20:26 September birthdays. September babies are 2% more likely to go to college and 3% more likely to graduate college. And they're 7% more likely to get into a top collegiate school. So maybe that's why there's all these September babies. It's not an epic New Year's Eve party and a great after party. it's wanting your kid to, you know, be older than all the other kids in their class. In fact, Jack, the editor of our podcast, Trey, who's editing this show right now. He's a September birthday, and he's the smartest editor we've ever worked with. Fair point. Happy birthday.

Starting point is 00:20:57 Trey Booty, the Floridian down in L.A. And a happy birthday to all the September smarties out there. Yeties, you look fantastic to end the week. And by the way, Jack and I are flying in New York City next week because we're interviewing Jim Kramer. Could be true. Could be a rumor. If true, huge. Is this an intentional leak, Nick? This is going to be incredible. I can't wait to see you there. That is a win to celebrate, Jack. It is a win to celebrate.

Starting point is 00:21:25 Nick and I, we'll see you Monday. Can't wait. H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Adin Yaldor turning eight years old over in Hotlanda, Georgia. Happy 29th birthday to Vivian Chen in Huntington Beach, California. And Tyler Pernesty is celebrating over in Denver with the best. Best birthday yet, probably skiing. And happy first birthday to Nolan Barrel Ski in Denver, Colorado. This boy skis like a barrel, doesn't he? And congrats to the parents too.

Starting point is 00:21:58 And Christina Kong, the senior over at Warden, always shares T-Boy and Job interviews, Christina. Thank you for the H-YH-TBOI. And congratulations to Wayne, Kate Kelly, baby Fiona, Daniel, Sunny, and Skyla in Urbandale, Iowa, who just sold their company. And set a Guinness record for most co-founders. Must be a law firm. And Tucker and Julia in Bedminster, New Jersey. Congrats on the anniversary.

Starting point is 00:22:24 Have a blast this weekend. And happy anniversary to Jennifer and Andre in Pittsburgh, PA, celebrate the win. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney, Intel, and Krispy Kreme. Nick own stock of Lulu Lemon and Nike, and we both own some Bitcoin. A Bitcoin named Ben.

The Best One Yet - 👟 “Air Force Kirkland” — Nike’s Costco sneaker. Amex’s $895 mirror card. Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation. +Kevin Durant’s crypto password.

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