The Best One Yet - 💏 “Dating… Life’s biggest investment” — Tinder Gold’s record. Walmart’s supplier bullying. BuzzFeed’s best eyeballs.

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

Stock of Tinder-owner Match is up 20% because, despite inflation, you’re paying a premium for dating apps — and that’s life-changing. Walmart surged 7% because it remembered how to bully suppliers. And BuzzFeed revealed that it snagged 151M hours of Zillennial attention last quarter, but not all eyeballs are equal.$MTCH $BMBL $BZFD $WMTFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, November 16th. And today's pod is just the best one yet. We got ourselves a T-boy today. All right, Jack, front-left, back-left, back-left, back-right, no pocket pocketbook, gold jacket, green jacket. What's going on over here, man?

Yeties, we will reveal the results of the most popular phone pocket tomorrow. Okay, the pocket you keep your phone in was the funniest most controversial thing Jack and I have ever posted. We broke a record for voter turnout. Let's put it that way. We kind of broke the internet on this thing. In the meantime, Jack, what's our first story for today's T-boy? Tinder just showed us that despite inflation, you are still paying for passion. Because dating isn't a cost. Dating is the greatest investment of our lives. For our second story, Walmart stock just jumped 7% yesterday. It's the revenge of the old and boring economy. And our third and final story, 151 million hours. That is BuzzFee. hero metric from last quarter.

Time spent is a metric, but quality time spent is a love language. Yetis, before we hit that fantastic mix. Just a lovely mix with a little bit of romance sprinkled into a couple stories here, Jack. We love wishing happy birthday to you Yeties and besties at the end of the pie. For example, happy birthday to all the besties and yeties out there for November 16th. But we got to give one special birthday shout out today. Jack and I got to do a literal birthday. Day shout out right now.

Happy day of birth. Yes, Jack. To number 8 billion. As in the 8 billionth human being living on Earth was born yesterday, according to the United Nations. Yesterday, for the first time ever, the world population hit 8 billion people. Now, just to be clear, we don't know who you are or where you are, Mr. 8 billion or Mrs. 8 billion. We don't know your hair color. We don't know your birth weight.

Yeah, what we do know is that you're a scorpia. That's all we do now. basically all we know. But happy birthday to the 8 billion baby. But Jack, before we go any further, can we sprinkle on a little context here? Pass the pacifier. Let's do this, man. All right, yetis get this. Human beings, we've been on earth for 300,000 years. We're still pretty young. But Homo sapiens only hit one billion people in the year 1800. That's right. It took us 299,000 years on this earth to hit billion number one. And then after the year 1800, Homo The Europeans started repopulated the planet like chocolate bunny rabbits.

It was hockey stick growth because Earth's population of humans has doubled in just the past 50 years from 4 to 8 billion. Well, now that we've hit 8 billion people, humanity could sing 1 billion Acapella songs at the same time. You know what this means? 8 billion people. We could play 4 billion games of Tic-Tac-toe simultaneously. Now, scientists are predicting that our eventual population of people will peeve it. They think Earth and humans we're going to tap out at 10 billion people. Yeah, 10 billion people by the year 2080. Honestly, our money's on 11 billion by 2019, though. Until then, Jack, happy birthday to 8 billion.

And happy birthday to 8 billion and 1. And happy birthday to 8 billion and 2. And 8 billion and 3. And let's hit our three stories. Oh, wait, 8 billion and 4. I just said. We got to go. 15 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 an norm. I need to practice. 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.

Start the show. For our first story, the stock of match, like the dating app icon that owns Tinder, it's up 20% since its earnings, we noticed. Because Tinder just told us you're investing in dating. Oh, Jack. Let's start with the dark stuff first. You know, you got mortgage debt. You got student debt.

But what is like the most painful debt of all these days? Trigger warning. Yeah. It's dating debt. Dating debt. Get these numbers yet. He's 22% of millennials go into debt because of dating these days. It sucks.

Inflation is destroying the first date. You got roses, concert tickets, cocktails, nightcaps, appetizers. Prices are up and all that stuff. The Chase Sapphire card is crashing your date. It's the third wheel. It's brutal. But here is the fascinating, ironic twist, besties. You're paying more for dates, but you're also paying more to date right now.

Look what we noticed in Match's earnings last week. This is interesting. The Match Group added 200,000 paying users in the past year. Tinder, which is Matches profit puppy, they saw a 7% jump in Tinder Plus, Tinder gold, and Tinder platinum subscriptions. I haven't been on the Tinder app in a while, but I used to be an economy customer. Let's put it that way. It does sound a little bit more like Delta these days. Now, what sharks Nick and me is in this economy?

This economy, the stock of match. It's now up 20% in the last week because 17 million of us are paying for power swipes on Tinder. Inflation. We are cutting back on fashion, but we're still poning up for the passion. Now, Yeti's, Jack and I should sprinkle on some more context here. Like a drink on a date, yes, that is a cost. But paying for a dating app can actually save you money. Okay, Yeties, let's take a look at Tinder.

for a second. Let's look at the monetization. All right. It's 30 bucks a month if you want to pay for Tinder Gold. That's a lot. That's two Netflix's. But using Tinder Gold will enhance your chances of finding the right person. And that's because that premium feature comes with super likes. Super likes. It means when you swipe right on somebody, that like will be seen more prominently by the person on your screen. It's like Cupid has a special arrow that is filled with adrenaline and steroids.

It's like Cupid is shooting a special, special arrow. for your account. Yeah, so the way we see it, maybe Tinder Gold helps you avoid wasted dates with someone who, you know, never had a chance. Let's be honest, they never had a chance. So you saved money by not splitting tacos on that terrible date with Terry. So Tinder Gold got you to your special someone faster with fewer wasted whiskey sours. And getting to that special someone can save you big bucks over time. Like, for example, if you move in together, boom, your rent, it just got cut in half. If you're serious, they won't judge you for ordering a cheaper glass of wine like you prefer anyways. I'll take a glass of the Sutter home white Zinfandel, please.

You know what, honey? You be you. Boom. Those savings from rent and wine, that pays for like years of that Tinder Plus subscription you were worried about. $360 in one year on Twinder platinum, but you're saving thousands of dollars every month now. We are facing a recession, but people are paying for dating apps at all-time high levels. dating apps can really be seen as an investment in finding love. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies getting a return on Tinder over at Match? The most important investment of your life, it's your life partner. Yet is financially, mentally, emotionally, emotionally,

look at every single metric out there. Just look at them. The biggest impact on your future is who you commit to it. Your husband, your wife, or your partner, they're the support system for when your career slumps and you need motivation. You're a lot of it. You're a lot of it. You're honey, that's the voice that will sway your spending habits. You end up spending more time with that boot than any other person on earth. In a funny way, it's almost strange not to be investing money and finding your critical asset, the person you're willing. You're driving 15 bucks a month to watch four hours of Netflix, but zero dollars on who you spend forever with. Dating involves costs. We know it. It's true. But those pale in comparison to the returns of finding love. Because the most important

investment of your life is your life partner. For our second story, Walmart stock, it actually surged to 7% yesterday. Because Walmart just remembered how to be a bully. Okay, Jack, two foods. Two foods. The only two foods you and I are focused on right now. What are those two foods? Hot dogs and beans. Beans and Franks, baby. That's what we're talking about right now. That is our focus because that's Walmart's focus. Yeah, Walmart just said that more customers are buying hot dogs and beans than ever right now. That is a not a good sign. No it is not. No it's not. Walmart, by the way, they just announced $152 billion in quarterly revenue, not too shabby. No company in the United States has higher sales every quarter than Walmart. But because of higher prices, people are downgrading

from sirloin steaks to hot dogs and beans. There's more BMWs in Walmart parking lots than there have ever been before. But all that huge money Walmart just brought in thanks to hot dogs and beans, Jack. And BMWs? Yes, Jack. They all got wiped out by $3 billion legal sediment around Walmart's role in the opioid epidemic. But yet he's, here's what fascinated Jack and I about Walmart right now. There is one big question about Walmart's business.

How is Walmart, the self-proclaimed home of always low prices? How are they protecting us from high prices? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, Walmart's keeping prices low by being a bully. That's right. Walmart is protecting you and me from high prices by punishing suppliers. Yeah, it's being a bully to them, like straight up O'Doyle rules kind of stuff. Let us explain. Let's say Louisville Slugger. Louisville Slugger, they sell baseball bats in Walmart's sports department. Well, Louisville Slugger tells Walmart, hey, sorry, our prices for our baseball bats, they're up 10%. You know, lumber prices, wood prices, yada, yada, yada. Supply chain, whatever. Well, Walmart is saying to Louisville

Slugger right now, that is unacceptable. We will not pay 10% more for your baseball bats. Walmart's like, look, Louisville Slugger, either you honor that same prices before or your Louisville Sluggers won't be sold in Walmart nationwide. And Walmart has all the leverage to win this negotiation. And they do. And why is that, Jack? Because Walmart is way too big for Louisville Slugger not to be sold back.

What's our favorite stat about Walmart again, about populations in Walmart? 90% of the American population. population lives within 10 miles of the closest Walmart. Louisville Slugger, they want to be sold at Walmart. So this is classic Walmart. They're leveraging their enormous size during a tough economy to demand lower prices from their suppliers. You don't like that Louisville Slugger?

Good luck at Kmart. I heard there's still a few seers you could sell your bats at. Isle 6 is cute. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Walmart? This is the revenge of the old economy. Yeties lately, tech company, Dreams have been crushed by stock market nightmares. Every innovative company of the future is shrinking their workforce and just trying to get by right now.

Meanwhile, the old economy, like the boring companies your uncle loves, they're thriving right now. ExxonMobil just announced their best profits ever while clean energy companies are struggling. Hershey's chocolate company, their stock's at an all-time high. But Odley's plant-based milk has never been lower. Walmart stock is up this year. while Amazon stock is down 50% jack. Yet he's Wall Street just sent Walmart stock up 7% yesterday because of its old school supplier bullying.

2022, it is the revenge of the old economy. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. You can do just about anything from your phone, but some industries, they've just been slow to move. The finance industry was slow to move from phone to computer and then from computer to app. Robin Hood wasn't. It's the Silicon Valley-based brokerage that's been updating app since it was born in 2015. Using the Robin Hood app for your stocks and crypto is almost as easy as downloading it.

So you can invest to your pace on your terms by downloading the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y limitation supply. Stocks are offered by Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Crypto offered through Robin Hood Crypto. All investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, BuzzFeed just announced that Zillennial spent a whopping 151 million hours watching and reading BuzzFeed last quarter.

Time spent is great, but what about quality time spent? Good question. So Yeties, Jack and I, we interviewed BuzzFeed's founder and CEO, Jonah Pready, like a month ago. It was our first ever bonus pod. the best one yet. And we asked him, what's the takeaway on BuzzFeed? And he said, BuzzFeed is the home to the best of the internet. That was the founder's takeaway. Now that's BuzzFeed's mission, but its corporate mission is to make money doing so. Okay, so that's when Jack and I got more curious. We're like, okay, if BuzzFeed has to make money on being the home of the best of the internet, what are your

BuzzFeed profit puppies? And that's when he told us BuzzFeed's become a media conglomerate. Because BuzzFeed's not just BuzzFeed. Like BuzzFeed now, owns Huffin and Post. It owns Complex. It owns tasty. BuzzFeed has an e-commerce company. BuzzFeed sells pots and pans at Walmart under its tasty brand. And it's an events company too. BuzzFeed sells tickets right now to ComplexCon, a music style and food festival that's like this weekend. Well, let's be honest, Yeti's at the end of the day, BuzzFeed's a media company. Over 80% of BuzzFeed's revenue is coming from the ads from all of its content. That's why BuzzFeed whips up a news article about Disney.

Yeah. And a quiz about which Disney princess are. For the record, I'm a tinkerbell and Jack is totally a Jasmine. I just want to put that out there. A whole new world. It's a dazzling place. That's why BuzzFeed also is making tasty videos of how to make a crispy sesame garlic dump. And that's why they interview Idris Elba on their Hot One show, who is literally crying.

Because during the interview, the wings he's eating, are so hot. Well, Jack, we add up all that content. buzzfeed's producing and that attracted 151 million hours of zillennial attention in just the last three months. That sounds incredible. 151 million hours of eyeballs. That can generate a lot of ad revenue. But Jack and I should sprinkle on more context because that 151 million hours, it's down 32% from last year. A drop in viewers for a media company is a huge problem.

And that is why BuzzFeed stock is close to an all-time. low. So Jasmine, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at BuzzFeed? Not all eyeballs are equal. Yeties, Jack and I have told you that eyeballs get advertisers, but there is a new challenge facing BuzzFeed and its eyeballs. It's not just how many eyeballs watch. It's where they're watching. Yeah, for example, if you watch that BuzzFeed chicken wing video on BuzzFeed's website, BuzzFeed makes 100% of that ad money. If you watch that BuzzFeed chicken wing video on YouTube, BuzzFeed makes 50% of the ad money. But if you watch that BuzzFeed video on TikTok or Instagram Reels,

BuzzFeed is making 0% of the ad money. Because unlike YouTube, TikTok and Instagram don't share ad revenue with the creators who post the content. We repeat, TikTok and Instagram, they are not sharing the ad money with a BuzzFeed. That's why it's increasingly important to BuzzFeed where the eyeballs are. Jack, can you jump on a magic carpet ride and whip up the takeaways for us over there? Match group stock jumped 20% on news that record numbers are paying for Tinder goals.

Your life partner is your most important investment. For our second story, Walmart is impressing Wall Street with its supplier bullying. It's the revenge of the old economy. And our third and final story is BuzzFeed. Their viral videos attracted 151 million hours of millennial attention last quarter. But not all eyeballs are equal. No, they're not. Mine are prettier than yours.

I am Jasmine after all. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one is the rare repeat best fact yet, and you'll see why in a second. It's from Mara Chabin from lovely Los Angeles. We now have 8 billion living human souls on planet Earth. But as Mara has pointed out to us before, 8 billion. is a big number, but 8 billion people fit in a small area. That's right.

All 8 billion humans, if you stack them shoulder to shoulder, they could all fit within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. It's going to be tight, but all people on Earth right now could literally fit in L.A. I hope they were wearing deodorant today. Honestly, yeah, if you think the traffic on the 405 is bad like right now, could be a lot worse. Imagine driving from Santa Monica to some other part of L.A. 8 billion people in the way. 8 billion people on Earth.

But we can all squeeze into L.A. Wow. Yeties, you look fantastic today. And if you still want to comment on which pocket you put your phone in on our Instagram post, there's a lot going on in that comment section, Jack. We'll announce the results tomorrow. But yeah, it's quite a debate. Jack and I, we'll see him on.

Before we go, happy birthday to Dave Franzel of the Upper West Side. This is the burrito boy of 73rd Street. he likes his burritos extra sloppy. His guac is always extra too. And a happy birthday to Talika Gupta, who's getting some prod of shoes for that birthday in San Francisco. And happy fourth birthday to Vailin LeBorne, who has been listening to this pod for half his life

in Mission Viejo, California. And a happy birthday to Katie Schultz down in Austin, Texas. And congrats to Selena Turme, who just got a new job in Los Angeles. Hopefully she's not surrounded by $7,999. million nine hundred ninety nine nine nine nine nine get this chase and kirby in Houston just had their first anniversary but that's not it they got a shout out when they started dating on this pot now they're getting a shout out for the one-year

anniversary couples who t-boy together boy do they tea boy together this is jack i own stock of amazon disney and netflix and nick and i both own stock of robin hood now a word about our sponsor robin hood jack Rule number one about a kitchen renovation. Tell your friends about your kitchen renovation. We know the cabinets are expensive. Well, in the pandemic, a lot of companies renovated their businesses focusing on apps and digital. Robin Hood didn't have to. It was built digital from the start. Robin Hood's mobile first and intuitive design makes investing a little easier for every stage of your investing journey. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or buy some Bitcoin on

Robin Hood Crypto, you can do all that right on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-I. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involved risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood.