The Best One Yet - 🧈 “Costco Gold Digger” — Gold’s all-time-high. OpenAI’s 1st Cannes film. Black Rock Coffee’s IPO. +NYYankee $$$.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy Tuesday. September 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. Jack, happy Gretzky day to you. Happy Wayne Gretzky day to you. Oh, September 9th, 9th. Canada, big day for Canada right now. Did you know Wayne Gretzky once did preseason for the Rangers in Burlington, Vermont? He knows the best bars on Church Street. Big maple syrup fan. Jack, three stories for today's T-Boy. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, Open AI is spending $30 million to beat Hollywood at their own game. Critters! It's Sam Altman's AI-generated blockbuster movie, and it's coming to theaters next year. For our second story, Newmont Mining is one of three S&P 500 companies that has doubled its stock this year because of gold.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Gold. We hope you bought some Costco gold bars, Yeties, because gold just hit an all-time high. And we found the one gold company that's ironically beating gold. And our third and final story, it's IPO week. It is. Six different big companies are going public, and the first is Black Rock Coffee. Black Rock Coffee isn't beating Starbucks with disruption. It's beating them with erosion. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Whoa, fantastic mix. No one else is doing that mix. Love the mix, Jack. I love trivia, but I love sports trivia even more. And Yankees trivia, the most. Most. Yesterday we asked you this trivia question. Yes, we did. Who designed the famous New York Yankees logo? Was it A, Thomas Edison, the famous inventor? B, Albert Lasker, the famous ad man. C, Louis Tiffany, the famous jeweler, or D. Babe Ruth himself? Ah, and Jack, the answer to that formidable T-boy trivia

Starting point is 00:01:51 question, what is it? Lewis Tiffany. The famous Tiffany jeweler company designed the New York Yankees logo. Yeah. Like that interlocking and why we all know today, that was Tiffany's jewelry. And that logo became a symbol of the winningest team in all of sports. But also the most valuable sports brand worldwide. Because the Yankees aren't just a sports team. They're also a media empire and a global fashion statement. The $8 billion bronze bombers are the ultimate expression of capitalism. And how that all came to be is the latest episode of our weekly show The Best Idea Yet. The Untold Origin Stories of the Most Viral products of all time. And since

Starting point is 00:02:30 the late 90s Yankees dynasty was the greatest period of my childhood Mattingly over here? Yeah, I do my best John Sterling impression. The Yankees win! Bernie Williams, you're welcome. Yeties, Jack and I dropped the link to that episode in this episode's description. It's

Starting point is 00:02:47 the best idea yet, but today's episode is a T-boy, and it's fantastic. Oh, today's T-Boy's so good. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm.

Starting point is 00:03:04 That's 50%. That's a 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. Our first story, this is wild. Open AI is producing a movie to prove that AI can make films faster and cheaper than Hollywood.

Starting point is 00:03:41 Because sometimes to convince a skeptical public, you need a public spectacle. and a little bit of cuteness. Yeti's OpenAI, the company behind chat. We're done calling it Chat GPT. It's just chat. The GPT, are you kidding me? It feels like we're on a first name basis now, right, Jack? We're dropping the the, the law.

Starting point is 00:04:01 And according to Axios, OpenAI's chat is the number one chatbot in the world, used eight times more than the number two, Google's Gemini. But Jack, can you please share with the besties the problem facing an open AI right now? Despite that powerfully large user base, the world still isn't convinced that artificial intelligence can create art. So instead of telling us otherwise, OpenAI is investing $30 million to show us otherwise. On the big screen, because OpenAI is producing a movie that will hit theaters globally next year. Sam Altman's making a movie, man. This is straight out of honorage, Jack. It's called Critters, Critters with the Z. It's an animated film generated with Open AI.

Starting point is 00:04:44 large language model. Visually, what is this Sam Altman movie going to look like, Jack? What do you think? Picture woodland creatures. Like if minions did a gap year in Patagonia. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can picture this now. That's the movie. It's Pixar style, but it's all AI generated. Now, yet he's Jack and I, when we heard this news,

Starting point is 00:05:00 first thought about Netflix back in 2013. Their goal back then was to win an Emmy and Oscar award to prove to Hollywood that they were a legit studio with legit original content. Well, it's similar to Open AI today, whose goal in producing this movie is to prove to the world that AI can do what Hollywood does. Their goal is to make in just nine months what Hollywood takes three years to produce and to pay just $30 million where Hollywood usually spends $100 million.

Starting point is 00:05:27 They basically want to do this at half the price of Shrek in a third the time of Shrek. No, like a third in a third, I think. And then to cap it all off, Sam Altman will debut this AI movie at the fanciest movie festival of all. Con Film Festival. The Cannes Film Fest. And Jack, you know what the judges at Cannes are going to say when they hear about this AI movie? Not possible!

Starting point is 00:05:49 Now, these critters, they're trying to walk before their AI can run, because humans will still be very involved in the making of this film. Well put, Jack. Open AI is partnering with real human beings to write the script and to voice the actors for the film. Human artists are also going to draw the main characters, but they're only going to draw them once and then feed those drawings into the Open AI

Starting point is 00:06:10 models. So like with those few human drawn sketches, the AI will then extrapolate it into an entire 90-minute film. So what they're not doing is just writing one prompt and pushing enter on chat chbt. They're not saying, produce me a 90-minute film better than Pixar can. Go. If you can't do a chat dpD, I'm going to ask claude to do it. The goal here is to use AI to scale existing human creativity and to massively reduce the cost and the time to making a film. And if it works, moviegoers will laugh, cheer, cheer and cry for 90 minutes, and then buy a critters lunchbox.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Hopefully, that's a goal. And every Hollywood studio is going to say, I want what they're having, and become a $1 billion a year enterprise customer of Open AI. But also, a full-on blockbuster movie that could change how we all view AI creativity, right, Jack?

Starting point is 00:06:58 Yeah, instead of thinking of AI created content as slop, we'll think of it as potentially legitimate artwork. Dusty's added all up, and LLM doesn't stand for large language model stands for limitless little Michelangelo. If the critters are truly cute, then yes, maybe I'll agree with that. You gotta be cute.

Starting point is 00:07:15 So, Jaggle, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at OpenAI? To convince a skeptical public, you need a public spectacle. Yeties, this film is a $30 million investment in showing not telling. And you know what? It actually reminds us of the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1883, New Yorkers were skeptical that this enormous new bridge over the East River could bear the weight of the city. Today, the public is similarly skeptical that AI can compete in our most creative industries. In 1884, New York City paid a circus to send 21 elephants

Starting point is 00:07:49 across the new Brooklyn Bridge in broad daylight for all to see. And today, Open AI is now paying $30 million to make an AI movie for all to see. Elephants convinced New Yorkers to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and an award-winning movie may convince you to respect AI-created art. Because besties, to convince a skeptical public, you need a public spectacle. For our second story, the price of gold has risen 38% this year. It just hit an all-time high. But stock in one gold company has grown nearly three times as fast as gold has. It's a gold and gold.

Starting point is 00:08:29 And we'll tell you how. Yeties, exactly two years ago in September of 2023, Jack and I did a story on Costco's brand-new product, gold bars. Pasco was selling one ounce bars of gold for $1,900 each. Well, besties, we hope you heard our story and bought a couple of those puppies. Unlike us, because today, gold is worth two times that much, $3,600 per ounce. Yeties, the price of gold is rising faster than the stock market this year. It's even going up faster than Bitcoin. Actual gold is beating digital gold. Gold is having its best year since King Tut got buried in the stuff. Goldfinger, I hope he held on to that stock.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Flavor Flavjack, his mouth is now insured at $12 billion. Now, we'll explain why gold is more valuable than ever in our takeaway. But first, a plot twist. Let's follow the road to El Dorado here. You see, there is one company doing nearly three times better than gold, but ironically, it's a gold company. Newmont Mining is one of just three stocks in the S&P 500 that has doubled in 2025, so far this year. Newmont mining, the world's largest gold mining company. Jack, could you

Starting point is 00:09:41 sprinkle on some very valuable context for us, please? This business, which mines gold and sells gold, is worth $83 billion. That's more than Coinbase, Dell, or Airbnb. It's like 12 lifts. Now, we know what you're wondering, do they go back to the 1849 California Gold Rush? We wish they did, but they don't, they don't. But they do go back to 1921, which is something. And they've done some clever strategic moves. Like, in the last 100 years, they merge. with a train business, the Santa Fe Railroad. Because gold is heavy, and it's more profitable to run a gold business if you control the trains that you have to ship it in. And over the course of this century, their business model has basically remained the same simple concept. Acquired land that is rich with gold. Yes. Mine that gold. Check. And sell that gold for more than it cost to extract that gold.

Starting point is 00:10:27 Well, today, Newmont owns 11 different mines worldwide, but Newmont gold is now beating the price of the underlying gold that they are. How are they doing it? Well, while the price of gold is going up, Newmont's costs are shockingly going down. Get this, besties. Over in Australia, Newmont opened their first mine with autonomous vehicles. Gold carting robotrucks. In case you're trying to visualize this, it is like sending a Waymo Robotaxy deep into a gold mine. And Robotaxis don't need P-Bricks. So you can operate a more efficient mine in that way. We jumped into their earnings and the result? Last quarter, Newmont mining, head a 40% profit margin for a mining business.

Starting point is 00:11:11 That's a better profit margin than meta. It costs $2,000 for them to mine one ounce of gold, and then they sell it for $3,600. Boom, and that is why Newmont stock is up nearly three times as much as gold. Silver in gold. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in gold? Gold is like the security blanket for global investors. Yeties, there is no asset that better reflects the financial and psychological state of the world right now than gold.

Starting point is 00:11:42 Because we've told you that gold does well in times of uncertainty. Like today's trade war, which is shaken confidence in global trade and hurt the world's GDP. Trump's attacks on the Fed bring central bank independence into question. And China, Russia, North Korea, they all just held hands for a giant scary military parade. Add in a giant scoop of AI uncertainty to the mix. Oh boy. And we are all searching for our financial blankets to cling at night. So, Basties, when you're not sure what will happen to the U.S. dollar, global trade, interest rates, or unemployment,

Starting point is 00:12:13 you'll reach for your security blanket. The timeless and durable store of value that is gold. There is simply no asset that better reflects the financial stress of the world than gold bars. So if you want to understand that 2025 economy, just look at gold. Silver and gold. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the first big IPO of this big IPO week, it's Black Rock Coffee Bar. Black Rock is another viral West Coast coffee chain, and that reveals the real risk facing Starbucks.

Starting point is 00:12:55 Yeties, now that Wall Street has closed out their tabs at the Surf Lodge and made it back from the Hampton's traffic, there are six big IPOs scheduled for this week. and next week. Gemini, Stubhub, Clarnet, they're all going public. But the first one we wanted to cover is Black Rock Coffee Bar. Black Rock Coffee Bar. No association with the Wall Street Investment Company, Black Rock, we should point out. No, Black Rock, the coffee bar is the buzzy, not Starbucks coffee chain that's kind of a copy and paste business model of Dutch Bros. Yeah, it's kind of like if Pete's and Dutch Bros had a pumpkin-spiced baby raised by Duncan. The bristas are more chill. They don't wear khakis. They wear ripped jeans. you that caramel macchiato. There's going to be Metallica playing in the background. Now, this brand was

Starting point is 00:13:39 founded in Beaverton, Oregon in 2008 because the Pacific Northwest is apparently where all of our coffee chains begin. Yeah, the Silicon Valley of espresso, apparently. Black Rock has 158 locations so far in seven Western states. They're adding 20% more locations each year, and each location is growing sales by 10% year over year. And with all of that caffeinated growth, they are now IPO and hoping for evaluation of Black Rock Coffee at about a billion dollars. So Nick and I dove into the IPO paperwork while sipping one of their signature Rocky Road Chillers. And we found one hero stat. Oh, we couldn't wait to share this with you. Yetis, we found a way to calculate the level of cultiness of this company's cult following. Yeah, what are we calling this stat, by the way?

Starting point is 00:14:24 We have to come up with a name for the stat. Let's let the besties come up with the name for this one. It's a good stat. I like the stat. Well, here's the stat. Black Rock Coffee lists 1.8 million loyalty members. Yes. 1.8 million people so dedicated to their local Black Rock coffee that they downloaded an app and set up an account. And now, Jack, you know I'm a decaffeinated diva. I don't drink that much coffee. So that number sounds tiny to me compared to Starbucks's 33 million loyalty members. But Starbucks has way more locations. It's a way bigger company. It's not apples to apples. So here's what we did, Besties. What if instead we measure loyalty members on a per store basis? What happens then? has 2,000 loyalty members per store. BlackRock has 11,000 per store. Okay, so by that measure,

Starting point is 00:15:09 then the customer love for Black Rock coffee is five times more intense than for Starbucks coffee. 158 locations, and each one has 11,000 loyalty members? That is a fantastic sign that this business has traction. I'm no Cuban, but that looks like a love signal to me, man. Black Rock may be small, but based on those numbers, every town that Black Rock expands to, the entire local, local population becomes loyalty members. Sorry, Jack, I got to pause the pot. I just became best friends with my Black Rock barista over here, apparently. And all that customer love from that one hero stat is making Starbucks jealous.

Starting point is 00:15:45 Oh, the Frappuccinos are freaking out. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the coffee industry? Starbucks isn't facing disruption. They're facing erosion. Yeties, everyone obsesses over disruption. Fast-moving innovators overtaking a legacy company. There's 35 podcasts, business podcasts about disruption. But Jack and I are equally interested in erosion, the slow overtaking of a legacy company.

Starting point is 00:16:14 For example, right now, Nike isn't getting disrupted by other shoe companies, but its dominance is being eroded. Hoka, new balance, on running. These smaller brands are slowly eating away at the leader Nike. And Starbucks is facing the same erosion of its number. number one position in coffee. Dutch bros, Blank Street, and now Black Rock coffee are slowly sipping away at Starbucks's number one status. We see something similar happening to Lulu Lemon, Budweiser, and other legacy brands. Besties, everyone these days is afraid of disruption. Or excited about disruption. But don't forget about its scary, slower cousin, erosion. Jack, could you

Starting point is 00:16:54 whip up the takeaways for us for Tea Boy Tuesday? Open AI is creating a movie using their AI-generated video tools. The movie is called Critters. It's coming to can because to convince a skeptical public you need a public spectacle. For our second story, Newmont Mining Company is one of just three S&P 500 stocks that is up

Starting point is 00:17:15 100% so far this year. Because gold is the security blanket of global investors. And our third and final story is Black Rock Coffee Bar. They're IPOing and shares begin trading this Friday. Starbucks isn't getting disrupted. Starbucks is getting errone.

Starting point is 00:17:31 But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, happy Apple day. It is Apple's favorite day of the year because today Apple releases its annual iPhone unveil. That was very wordy. Yeah, there's a new iPhone coming out today. There's a new iPhone coming out today. And the invitation had awe dropping on it. And the subject is probably the iPhone 17 air. Spoiler, it'll be thinner, lighter, and have a marginally better camera than the iPhone 16. One more megapixel. I've been waiting years for one more megapixel. And second, Lego just unveiled their most expensive set ever. A $1,000 Star Wars Death Star Lego kit.

Starting point is 00:18:12 Lego is now a luxury company? This is so expensive, Darth Vader had to get a loan from the empire for it. He probably gave his son as collateral. It's a write-off. I said it's a right-off. And we all know who this is targeting. Kid Altz, the one out of four Lego users who are over 18 years. years old. And finally, Mark Zuckerberg is getting sued by another Mark Zuckerberg for messing with the name Mark Zuckerberg. A wild new court case was brought by a lawyer in Indiana whose name happens to be

Starting point is 00:18:42 Mark Zuckerberg. And apparently Facebook keeps shutting down his Facebook page thinking that this Mark Zuckerberg is knocking off CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But the lawyer Mark Zuckerberg is just trying to promote his real legal business, his law firm, which is the law offices of Mark Zuckerberg. He's getting sucked. He is. getting sucked on this one. Now time for the best fact, yet this one whipped up by us about our new pod daughter,

Starting point is 00:19:08 Selena, S-A-L-I-N-A. What does Molly think about you giving me first-person plural pronoun ownership of this new daughter? Yeah, I'll give Molly credit for this fact. Yet he's renamed our daughter who was born last week, Selena, S-A-L-I-N-A, after the island where Molly's family is from

Starting point is 00:19:24 off of Sicily, and because Molly and I did a great dinkification there once. It's a great story, Nick. But did you know that that island, just off the tip of Sicily, is known for capers? More than any other place on Earth, Salina is known for capers, which are, Jack, how would you describe them? Salty peas that are sold in liquidy bottles for some reason? A very, very divisive food product. The caper was once used as a form of currency during Roman times, and they now grow wild on Selena's island walls.

Starting point is 00:19:55 You'd probably find them on a bagel with locks. But you may not know that they are actually flower buds, and the island of Selena hosts an annual caper festival every summer. And I think we already know who the queen of that will be in 20 years. Yeah, she's going to want us to pay for a vacation there. Yiddies, you look fantastic over there. And if you are curious how the New York Yankees became the coolest, biggest, most fashionable brand of sports in the world,

Starting point is 00:20:21 Jack and I got the answer for you. I love this episode because we kind of step out of our lane of like traditional business products. But if you think about it, the New York Yankees are a product. Yes, they are a viral business product and the business of the Yankees. Oh, it is a business.

Starting point is 00:20:36 And Babe Ruth, wow. Not to mention George Steinbrenner. Did you know he got charged with like political fraud? Oh, there's drama in this one and we may get sued yeties. So check out the best idea yet, our weekly deep dive show this week on the New York Yanks. Links in the episode description. Nick and I, we'll see tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:20:53 Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Emma, Tadinger, Gardiner Briscoe, the legend of Louisville, popping bottles for her birthday. Happy 11th birthday to Cassie Canavaggio in Panama City, Panama. And a happy 101st birthday to President Russell M. Nelson over in Utah. Specifically, the Mormon church in Utah. Yeah, apparently huge Yeti. And Sorov Venea, Jack, he is a Yeti I ran into in the ferry building over the weekend. Future CEO of McKinsey right here.

Starting point is 00:21:27 Saurov, thanks for being a bestie. If I could buy stock in Saurav, I would. And a shout out to Devaney Williams and Jonathan Garcia, two Yetis who shared T-Boy on LinkedIn, H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Thanks, guys. And finally, a big shout-out to Nick and Haley Falconi in St. Louis, Missouri, who are due for their baby girl in just a couple weeks. We can't wait to meet her. Celebrate the wins. She'll be the best girl yet. This is Jack. I own stock in Netflix, Nickel and Stalk in Nike and Lulu Lemon, and we both own stock of Apple and Airbnb, as well as ETFs of the S&P 500. and some Bitcoin. A Bitcoin named Ben.

The Best One Yet - 🧈 “Costco Gold Digger” — Gold’s all-time-high. OpenAI’s 1st Cannes film. Black Rock Coffee’s IPO. +NYYankee $$$.

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