The Best One Yet - 🧊 “Buy a North Pole Condo” — 15k acres of Arctic real estate. Warby Parker’s perfection. Chevy Malibu’s extinction.

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

The world’s most-northern piece of real estate just hit the market for $300M — We predict who will buy Svalbard, and what kind of wild polar park it will become.Warby Parker’s stock surged 18% last week because of a wild retention stat — 100% of Warby-wearers buy a 2nd pair within 4 years.And General Motors just announced it’s killing the Chevrolet Malibu, which was GM’s last sedan — turns out, all American sedans are no-more, not just because consumers want huge cars.Plus, Sriracha is pausing sauce production due to green chili peppers — They think it’s a problem, but we think it’s a missed marketing opportunity.$WRBY $GMSubscribe to the best newsletter yet: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, May 13th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, over the weekend yet he's Jack and I,

we decided to whip up a little something special for you, didn't we, man? Our first TikTok-style dance video. Yeah, you know, last week we were wearing those slamming salmon pink romper. So what did we decided to do, man? Romp him. And yes, we did a TikTok style dance video. Check it out on Instagram at Teaboy Pod. So far, no trolls, Jack.

Yeah, we only have positive feedback. One person told us to not quit our day jobs, but this is our day job. Check it out at T-Boy Pod. In the meantime, yet is you look fantastic. Jack, you're glowing over there. Three stories for today's T-boy. What do we got, man? For our first story, Warby Parker stock surged 18% last week because of the wildest financial

stat we've ever seen. Get this. 100% of Warby wearers by a second pair within 15%. four years. For our second story, a giant piece of snowy Arctic real estate just hit the market for $300 million. 300 mil for a whole bunch of tundra. So who is going to buy the world's most economically strategic land? And our third and final story is the legendary Chevy Malibu. It's being retired by General Motors, which means it's the last American sedan. So Jack and I are going to tell you why the American sedan went from endangered species to extinct species. But,

Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a mix of stories to start the week. Love the mix. Nick, is there anything worse than a shortage of saracha? Yes, there is, Jack. You know what's worse, man? What? A shortage of green saracha.

Yetis, we know what you're thinking. Isn't saracha red? Yes, it is red. But green saracha is the reason we're going to have a saracha shortage, and we will explain. Hoyfong Foods is the number one saracha seller in the country. In fact, Hoyfong Foods invented saracha. They invented saracha, but they just paused production. According to the company, they have determined that their chili is too green to proceed.

That's right. It's too green to proceed because like a tomato, sometimes green chilies don't ripen to turn into red chilies. And those green chilies are affecting the color of their sauce, according to the company. Apparently, the chilies just aren't being very cooperative over in the saracha space. The iconically red seracha is turning green because of these green. That's right. It's so green, they won't bottle. It's so green, they won't sell it. It is so green. We had to even cover it on this very podcast. But can we pause the pod for a second? Please, Jack. Just going to throw an idea out there. I love it. Green syracha sounds like an awesome variety pack of saracha. In fact, sit down, stand up and squirt it out again. This feels like a missed

marketing opportunity, doesn't it, Jack? They could sell green saracha as a limited time-only promotional sale. Boom, that's some premium saracha like it could be called lepracon saracha. Crocodile saracha. How about emerald saracha? I'm in for all three to be honest. Because yet, he's instead of stopping production because the sauce is

turning green. They should increase production because the sauce is turning green. That is so rare. They could make a pretty penny on that profit puppy. And we all know what our favorite business mind would say if they had green saracha. I would eat it in a boat. I would eat it with a goat. I will

eat it in the rain, in the dark and on a train. I like green saracha with a ham. I do like it. Sam, I am. Green saracha, the biggest missed marketing opportunity of a generation. Instead, we're going to have a shortage, because these guys don't like green. Now that's selfish. Jack, let's know three stories.

Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack, Nick Tis. 50%. Fat tip. Tea 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, look in the mirror because Warby Parker's eyeglass stock just searched 18% last week on its best quarter in years.

Because Warby Parker has the most loyal customers we have ever seen. And yes, for the rest of the story, I'm going to say Warby Parker and Jack's going to say Warby Parker. That's right. No, I say Warby. In the meantime, Yetis, for the last year, Jack and I have been talking to you about the great D-Horning. And what is that, Jack? The de-horning of direct-to-consumer unicorns because they're not worth a billion dollars anymore. Yeties, the consumer brands that came of age with us, millennials, they are disappearing out there.

Allbird stock is down 98%. Casper mattresses had to go private. And away luggage? It's MIA like your Samsonite suitcase. Where are you suitcase? I can't find you. But one direct-to-consumer brand that was part of that group is an absolute outlier. And that outlier is Warby Parker glasses. Warby Parker is the glasses company that looks like a library feels. Warby Parker, they made millennials want to be near-sighted. I know. I'm actually jealous that I don't wear glasses.

Jack, there was a period a few years ago where you would go to the optometrist and like purposely fail the vision test so you could get Warby Parker's, you know? Is that a P or an F? Here's the news. Warby Parker stock jumped 18% last week after they announced first quarter earnings. Warby Parker, they looked in the mirror and they like what they see. Warby announced their best sales growth since 2021. Revenues jumped 16% and the loss shrank by three quarters. Plus, Warby Parker is opening 40 new stores this year. There's 245 Warby Parker stores. That's a lot. Can you sprinkle on some context, Jack? It's about the same number as Shake Shack restaurants.

And they're probably bringing the next Warby to a gentrified corner near you. Now, all that sounds great, but we found one wild statistic on slide seven of their earnings deck that was absolutely unprecedented. Get this, besties. Nearly 100% of Warby Parker customers buy a second pair of glasses within four years. We were so shocked by that hero stat that I'm going to repeat it right now. Nearly 100% of Warby Parker customers buy a second pair of Warbys within four years of their first purchase. We almost had to get our own vision check when we read that in the slide deck.

Basically, every customer comes back for a second pair of glasses. That's crazy. Yeah, 100% buy again? Like, that's the biggest return rate that we've ever seen. Literally. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Warby Parker? Retention gets attention. Yeties.

Jack and I, a lot of time with venture capital firms. We've studied them. We've worked with them. We've worked at a venture capital firm. No big deal. We've driven down Sand Hill Road a couple of times. But the goal of a venture capital firm is really to identify the key numbers from startups that indicate that startup's future success. And for many VCs, the most important metric that they look at is their retention. It's retention. How well does your company get the customer to return? Because new customers are nice. They generate sales. They drive the business. They make the business. they make the business look bigger.

But nothing indicates customer love like a second or third or fourth purchase. And for Warby, nearly 100% of their customers end up buying a second pair. Allbirds away, Casper, they don't share that retention metric because they don't have that kind of super high retention metric. And that is why Warby Parker stock is up while the other direct-to-consumer brands are down. Yeah, it is. New customers are nice. But retention gets attention. For our second story.

The most valuable plot of land on earth just went on sale. 15,000 acres in the Arctic. For $300 million, this land is going to become an Enviro-Humblebragg polar park. Yeah, it is. You know, a famous rapper once told Jack and me that he invests in land. Because land is the only truly scarce resource on Earth. So how about this for a million dollar listing? The northernmost land on earth is now up for six.

sale. Check your zillow. Because remember, the North Pole isn't land. It's just ice. Only the South Pole has land. And I think you need to believe in it for the magic to happen. Well, not quite at the North Pole, but halfway between Norway and the North Pole sits Svalbard. Ah, Svalbard, a 15,000 acre private plot of land about the size of Manhattan, and it's listed for a cool 300 mil. This piece of land way up there is being marketed by a real estate firm called Knight Frank, just like any other piece of real estate. Honestly, we notice they're marketing it like it's a condo and boca. It's like they're selling sunset over there, but it's a piece of Arctic land. Here's what the real estate listing says. This is your last chance to acquire property in the

high Arctic, where it's sunny all day sometimes and dark all day other times. Yeah, if you want to get sleep, it's dark literally five months out of the year. Act now to own a piece of this land. This land features three miles of chilly coastline, which is beachfront property. And it features mountainous fjords. Which is ski and ski out. But we should point out, 60% of the land is covered in glacier. Although a real estate agent would say it has tons of views. Yeah. And if you have a barbecue, you'll never run out of ice. Oh, and a majority of the population is polar bears, but don't worry about that. And Arctic foxes, no big deal. But yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Being the northern most private land is interesting. But what's more interesting

is its purpose. For 100 years, Svalbard was owned by a private Norwegian company, which was in turn owned by a bunch of wealthy Norwegians. They purchased this property 100 years ago in the hopes of mining asbestos, although they didn't find any. But according to Bloomberg, the Arctic Circle has 13% of the world's untapped oil. So there could be oiled underneath there. So the buyer of this land could use it for natural resource exploration, a powerful economic benefit.

But the current owners aren't doing that. Instead, they're using the land right now for the most strategic preservation project in human history. Yeah, get this. On Svalbard, if you walk over there, you'll find the Doomsday Vault. We should point out you can't walk there. It's an island. But when you hop, skip, and jump over there, you will find the Doomsday Vault in which we have stored the world's plant seeds to save in case of a natural disaster emergency. If Armageddon happens, the living, surviving humans will grab seeds from that Doomsday Vault up in Svalbard. But whoever buys this $300 million plot of land can do anything with it.

that except for one very specific thing. Yeah, the history lesson's not over. Because after World War I, 40 countries agreed not to use this land, Svalbard, for military purposes. Including China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They all signed that Svalbard Agreement. The 1920s Svalbard Treaty. So what Jack and I are saying is that the world powers are fighting over the Arctic for economic reasons. A highly strategic piece of land is now for sale, but they can't use it for the military.

So what will this Piazza frozen tear be used for? Well, Jack, I'm so glad you ask because it's not in the Zillow listing. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies selling a $300 million plot of Arctic land? The next wave of tourism is polar. Yeties, Jack and I actually expect a super wealthy billionaire to purchase this land for two very particular reasons. The first is environmental conservation. The billionaire is going to brag that they're protecting this land from oil exploration. Yeah, you're seeing this late.

on the islands of Hawaii. But the second reason is part of a way bigger trend. Bougy Arctic tourism. In the last 25 years, polar tourism jumped by 10x. Polar tourism is adrenaline-packed experiential economy. It's the ultimate experience economy. And more than 100,000 people actually visited the North Pole or the South Pole just last year. So one wealthy billionaire, probably Zuck, Bezos, or Elon, is going to turn this island into a humble brag in Viro Polar Park. We know what you're thinking is traveling to see the polar bear is actually going to help save the polar bears. No, but it might motivate the world's wealthy to spend their riches on trying to.

And that's why we think the next wave of tourism is polar. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the iconic Malibu car was just retired by General Motors. It is officially the company's last sedan. So Nick and I are going to tell you why the American sedan, is now an extinct species. You know, Jack, when I was growing up, most of my friends actually did not have

driver's licenses in New York City. I love the subway, so I kind of get it. But I know you would drive it every day and a little carpool to school. And what was the popular type of car those days? Well, I was given as a hand-me-down, three times hand-me-down. First, it was my grandfather's,

then my older brother, then my other older brother, then me, a 1991 Honda Accord sedan. Okay, but what were other people driving among your friends in high school? Chevy Malibu. A Chevy Malibu. Yetis, the Chevy Malibu is actually one of the oldest car models in the world. They're on their ninth version of the Malibu. The first Chevy Malibu rolled off the assembly lines in Detroit in 1964. Back when a stick shift was the only shift. Back when Detroit muscle

was at its beefiest. But 60 years later, the ninth and final Chevy Malibu will be made this year. Yates, what we are saying here is the news. General Motors is killing their Malibu sedan. car this year. Which means General Motors will sell no sedans throughout the whole lineup. Sit down, stand up and buckle up again. The small car sedan, it's looking like an endangered species out there. The only cars General Motors will sell going forward is SUVs, pickup trucks, and the Corvette. In fact, Jack and I got to pause the pod for a second because the Chevy Malibu is actually the last American-made sedan. When the Malibu is gone next year, the species will be extinct. Yeah, Dodge and Ford, they already killed off like just about all of their mid-sized

cars years ago. So the only American sedan left is going to be the Tesla Model 3. But honestly, other than that, Americans, they want trucks and they want SUVs, and that's what the car companies are just making. Here's a wild statistic to prove it. The average American car today weighs 20% more than the average European car. Because our buddies in Europe are going around in little smart, cute vehicles. Well, you got 14 seats in the back of this thing. And like it's a school bus and it's called the Chevy Tahoe. And because of our preference for bigger cars, the only place you see a sedan these days

is at car rental places and drivers at. Everyone's got an aunt who's driving to Toyota Camry for the last 14 years. Americans have more stuff than ever and we'd like to be able to stuff that stuff in huge cars. I don't even think you can fit a Stanley mug inside of a sedan jack. And increasingly, drivers consider big cars safer

as an extra benefit. It's like Newton's Law of Physics. Big objects run over small objects. And that is why more than four out of five new cars sold. Four out of five new cars sold in America is a truck or an SUV. Now, we should point out, not all those huge cars are gas guzzlers. Some of them are hybrids and some of them are electric. But consumers just don't want sedans these days.

So Detroit is sending them the way of the dodo. The American sedan. It's going extinct. The American sedan. It's the dodo of driving. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all of the dodo? our buddies driving around right now. Consumers made it endangered, but competition made it extinct.

Yetis, big surprise about this story. The American sedan is extinct, but foreign sedans are thriving right now. All the Asian and German car companies are still making lots of sedans to sell in the U.S. Toyota, they sold 500,000 new Camry and Corolla's in the United States in the last year. Honda sold 400,000 civics and accord. in the United States last year. Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen, they are all still selling sedans in America. And that's the big problem for Detroit auto companies.

Foreign competition is fierce. If a consumer does buy a small sedan car in America, the price becomes their biggest factor. And if it's a price war for sedans, Detroit doesn't want to do that. They'd rather sell trucks and SUVs, which make much bigger profits. Those are their profit puppies. So the death of the American sedan is actually a... the result of a surprising two-part phenomenon. First, your preferences made the American sedan an endangered species.

But then foreign competition made it go extinct. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Warby Parker popped last week on news of a 100% four-year customer retention rate. Retention gets attention. Second, a 15,000-acre plot north of Norway is for sale, and it's probably going to become and eco-tourism park. Ah, because the next wave of tourism is Pola. And our third and final story is Chevrolet.

They're retiring their iconic Malibu sedan. And consumer preferences endanger the American sedan. But foreign competition made it go extinct. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, President Biden is expected this week to announce new tariffs on China, really big new tariffs on China. He's going to announce that their quadrual.

crippling the tariff that Americans pay on Chinese-made cars. Yeah, that's right. The tax we pay on Chinese cars, about to get Forexed. The goal is to protect U.S. carmakers from what the White House calls unfair Chinese competition. And second, TikTok is adding a big AI-generated tag to content that is made with artificial intelligence. So you won't be wondering anymore if those amazing dance moves were made by humans or bots. For the record, our dance video, it was Jack and me in the flesh. The challenge, though, will be if bad actors create AI that is so good, TikTok can't tell that it's AI. And AI deepfake so good that it could fake out TikTok.

And finally, Planet Fitness is adding some serious inflation to your bench press. And for the first time since 1998, Planet Fitness is raising the price on their famously, absurdly low gym membership. They're jacking up the monthly membership by 50% from 10 bucks a month to 15 bucks a month. You're going to need a spotter. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Bakerab in lovely Knoxville, Tennessee. Did you know that elephants have superb sense of hearing so good that they can hear the clouds as they're approaching? But here's the shocking thing.

Jack, why are elephants so good at hearing? It's their feet. Amazingly, elephants can use the bones in their feet, which are extremely sensitive to feel vibrations on the ground and communicate with each other through big steps. So ironically, it's not their gigantic ears that make them so good at hearing. It's their gigantic feet. Yetis, you look fantastic out there. And Jack and I would love to know. If you could name Green Saracha, what brand name would you give it?

I liked Emerald Saracha. Emerald Saracha is really good. I think as long as you don't call it New York Jets Saracha, people are probably going to buy it, Jack. Yides, what should we call Green Saracha? Hit us up at T-Boy Pod. Or comment right here on Spotify or YouTube. You know what to do. Jack and I will see you tomorrow.

And before we go, a welcome home to Dan Tillman. This Marine was deployed in Japan and is now coming back to San Diego. Welcome back. Thanks for your service. And happy National Military Appreciation Month. And congratulations to Yeti Andres Londano from Norwalk, Connecticut, who just got a new job and he starts ASAP. And a big shout out to Savannah Westwood in Orlando, Florida,

who's on a bucket list trip to Scotland. And she's going to send us some of the best facts yet from there. And a shout out to Lauren Picella, New York City, who shouted us out in her podcast and newsletter. And Jennifer Hancock and Dave Ile Blocker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are celebrating one year together. Happy anniversary. Happy birthday to Zander in Chesapeake, Virginia, celebrating at the Great Wolf Lodge. And Jack, Sachel Chocci Chu in Oakland, California, just did a reverse surprise party. You know what the theme was?

What was the theme? It was cadults. She even raised $1,500 for charity from her reverse. first surprise party. What a birthday. Happy birthday to Ashan, our ex-Robinood colleague, who's living in London right now. Ashan, celebrate that win, and Dil Patel took a helicopter ride over Atlanta to celebrate his big birthday. And to anyone else who celebrated something today, make it a tee boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I'm on stock of Ford.