The Best One Yet - 🦏 “Dude Where’s My Horn?” — Economics saves Rhinos. Big Tech’s AI FOMO. CapCut’s crazy speed.

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

In South Africa they’re preemptively de-horning rhinos to save them from poachers… Economics is saving the rhino.Big Tech is being driven by AI FOMO… and Wall Street is analyzing their AI spending receipts. There is 1 app more powerful than TikTok… It’s called CapCut and it’s crushing Adobe/Canva.Plus, how much are Olympians paid for winning a gold medal? Poland gives them an apartment, Malaysia gives $1K for life, and Hong Kong gives $768K.$META $GOOG $MSFTSubscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. Hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, August 2nd. And today's pod is the best one yet. This episode is a T-boy. Best one yet. Nick and I are whipping up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Although, Jack, we've got to talk calendars here because stocks just had their worst July in 10 years. The S&P 500 needs a vacation. Aren't you going on vacation soon, being to vacations? I'm going to Paris, man. You're going to Paris. I forgot. Wait, what are you doing this weekend, by the time? By the way, anything good, man? This weekend, we're going down to the Mad River Valley. We're going to go swimming. I'm doing a barbecue. I'm doing a grill out. Yeah.

What about you? Wait, you celebrating International Beer Day, which is today? Well, we're going to a winery called Scribe, so I guess that's the next closest thing, Jack. But three stories for today's show. What do we got on the pod, man? For our first story, all the big tech companies announced earnings this week. But we noticed one theme with six letters. And here it is.

A-I-F-O-M-O. AI FOMO. AI FOMO. For our second story, it's the African rhinoceros. Yes. It's an endangered species, but poaching has suddenly plummeted. So Jack and I will tell you how economics is saving the African rhino. And our third and final story.

There is one app more powerful than TikTok right now. Yes, there is. And CapCut's cap cut. Capcut. And CapCut's secret to success is that it's so fast, we can't even say it. It's so fast I didn't even see it. It's so fast, it's like, oh, CapCut. Oh, CapCut.

But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mixes stories to go into a weekend with. Love the mix, Jack. Olympians, they get a gold medal if they win their competition. But Jack, I got to ask, do the Olympians get paid if they win their competition? Nick and I jumped in T-boy style, and yes, they do get paid, but the amount of the reward varies by country. It varies, in fact, by such a shocking amount. We could not wait to tell you about it.

All right, let's kick it out for the United States. American who wins gold gets a $37,500 reward from the U.S. Olympic Committee. Whether you're LeBron, Jains, and basketball, or Brady Ellison and archery, you are getting paid to 37K if you win that medal. But even though the United States is the richest country on Earth, our Olympic bonuses aren't rich at all in comparison. Yeah, because over in Spain, they pay their gold medal winners $100,000. In tiny little Serbia, they pay $200,000 to anyone who wins gold.

And Israel is dropping $275,000. $1,000 on you if you bring home the gold medal. But, Nick, what happens in Malaysia? They get pretty creative. Have you heard about the perpetual dividend for gold medal winners? Yeah, it is, if you win the gold for Malaysia, you get $1,000 a month for life. It's like Powerball. Yes.

And in Poland, they go deep with their prize. They go deep. Get this. If you win a medal for Poland, you get $25,000, a diamond, a painting by a Polish painter, and a vacation voucher for two, Jack. Plus a free two-bedroom apartment. Yeah, in downtown Warsaw. Not too shabby.

Toss in a meal stipend, why don't you? I'll take three. It's like winning a trust fund if you win gold in Poland. Because you won the triathlon. And we haven't even told you the biggest Olympic payday of all. This is wild. What do we got, Jack? If you win gold for Team Hong Kong, you get $768,000.

In fact, Hong Kong will pay $7.000. $380,000 if you come in second place with the silver. Hong Kong's silver prize is more than any other country's gold prize. Jack, if you in bronze for Hong Kong, they'll buy you Serbia. So best is the Olympics. You compete for national pride, but you hope to get paid along the way. Gold in our hearts. Gold in their wallets too.

And Ricky Bobby, he had it all wrong, Jack. Yeah. If you ain't first, you're not last. No. If you ain't first, you'll apply for Hong Kong citizenship. Yeah, and cross your fingers. Dual citizens, Jack, let's get our three stories. Fifteen 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. This 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.

First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story. There was one theme we noticed in the big tech earnings this week, and it was actually six specific letters. AI FOMO. A-I-F-O-M-O. Because when it comes to AI, there are sellers, there are buyers, and... There are schmucks. Yeah, there are schmucks.

Schmucks, too. All right aides, you're watching the Olympics right now in Paris. But here in California, we got the big tech Olympic games going on right now, don't we, Jack? This week, we got earnings reports from Apple, Amazon, meta, Microsoft and Google. What an insane lineup. It's like if Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, and Katie Ledecky all started running the 100-meter dash together.

Yeah, on the same day. The only member of the AI Mafia that didn't report earnings this week was Invidia. Yeah, Invidia. They're the clear winner of artificial intelligence. And why is that, Jack? Invidia sells $40,000 chips to the big tech companies by the thousands. By the millions. Invidia, they're selling silicon shovels to the AI gold.

rush. If you don't have Nvidia's chips, you don't have no chatbot. But besties, here's why we wanted to cover the story. Uh, what about those tech companies we just mentioned that all announced earnings in the last 72 hours? Invita's doing great, but what about the companies paying Nvidia for their chips? Wall Street got curious and the theme of their curiosity was... FOMO. Yeah, FOMO. Every company in Big Tech has AI FOMO right now. Because this week, we finally read the receipts on all the tech companies AI splurging. Yes, we did. And Jack, let's kick it off with our buddies over at Meta. Mark Zuckerberg pivoted his company from the Metaverse to AI about a year ago. He also kind of pivoted his hair doing his word behind, we noticed. Yeah. What's the deal with his

new look? Everyone seems to be loving it. I know. It's like Mark Zuckerberg kind of looks like he's trying to reunite the Beastie boys. You know what I mean? It looks like he asked Chad GPT, how do I look cool? What should I do? And then he responded, Afro and gold chain. Jack, if Zuck doesn't get a tattoo in Q3, then you and I are getting tattoos in Q3. Back to the earnings. Meta is spending $37 billion on artificial intelligence this year. $37 billion on artificial intelligence, Jack, you are going to have to sprinkle on more context to that huge number. Meta's budget for buying AI chips this year with the same money they could have paid for four Paris Olympics. That's right. Meta could have bought four Paris Olympics

for all the AI spending they're doing. They could have built. 16 brand new Yankee stadiums, or they could have just acquired Lyft seven times with that spending. Oh, but here's the wildest part. Zuck says that that $37 billion in AI investments, it's already paid off

immediately. Because profit rose by 74% to a record high last quarter, thanks to just AI-infused ad sales on its car. That's right. Meta is splurgeon on AI. It's already getting a return, and Wall Street rewarded their stock with a big 10% jump. So,

Meadows like your buddy who bought crypto and is getting rich and bragging about it, ironically, on Instagram and Facebook, the two apps they own. Oh, it's exactly like that, Jack. And all the other tech companies are getting FOMO. I gotta buy AI. I gotta do AI. I gotta do AI. When one big tech company splurges on AI, all the big tech companies splurge on AI. AI FOMO. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are experiencing AI FOMO? When it comes to AI, there are buyers, there are sellers, and then there are schmucks. So, Yetis, Jack and I just said that meta dropped $37 billion on AI. But Microsoft spent nearly $60 billion on AI.

And get this, the CFO of Microsoft said it will be 15 years before those gigantic investments pay off. Investors were not happy about that, so they dropped Microsoft stock on that news. You're spending $60 billion and don't expect a return for 15 years? But then here's the interesting thing. Investors did notice that Microsoft's $60 billion splurge on AI is to buy Nvidia chips to run AI. It's coming out of Microsoft's pocket into Invidia's pocket. And so investors jacked up Nvidia stock by 13% to end the week. So Wall Street hated Microsoft's earnings, but they bought Nvidia stock because of Microsoft's earnings. Investies out all up. And from Wall Street's perspective, meta has become an AI buyer.

Invidia has become an AI seller, and Microsoft, kind of looks like they might be the schmuck. Yeah. They might have bought too much AI without plans to make money off it. Because when it comes to AI, there are buyers, there are sellers, and then they're a couple schmucks. For our second story, this one's wild. The rhinoceros is an endangered species, but suddenly poaching has plummeted. We're going to tell you the two wild economic strategies.

that are saving the African rhino. Oh, well, Jack, on that note, why don't we kick things off with, like, the best fact yet? This was great. Rino's horn, the big thing coming out of its nose, it's not a bone. It's actually, yeah, I don't know why I just defined a horn. It's actually keratin, which is not a bone. Yeah, the rhino's horn is actually the same material as our hair and fingernails. So the rhino, it looks like 99% triceratops, but it's actually just like us.

Yes, it is. And the rhino is also abundant in animal IP across the creative world, right, Jack? Yeah, there's a rhino in Peppa the Pig. Yeah. There's a rhino bad guy in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And spoiler alert, there's a rhino in the Coliseum in Gladiator 2. Coming soon. Oh, also the wild thornberries.

But yet he's in real life. The rhino is actually a deeply endangered species. 150 years ago, there were one million wild rhinos roaming Africa savannah. But today, there's only 25,000. And who are you going to blame, Jack? Poachers. Poachers. Rino horns are sought after in the black market as a collectible item.

And rhinos are also used in some Eastern Asian countries for medicine going as much as $60,000 a pound. It's scientifically debunked, but there's a belief that a potion with rhino horn ground up can, like, cure anything, including cancer. But yet is this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Poaching deaths of rhinos have shockingly fallen 40% in just the last two months. And the reason is a surprising and brilliant strategy by South Africa's park rangers. It also happens to be a wildly ironic strategy, right, Jack? Yes, sir, because South Africa is saving rhinos by dehorning them. Dude, where's my horn? Besties, get this.

Poachers are the bad guys in the rhino world. Poachers actually go out at night and shoot rhinos with huge guns just so they can cut off the horn and then sell it on the black market. But in the last year, the park rangers, the good guys, have tried a new strategy. Their new strategy is to preemptively cut off the rhino's horns before the bad guys can. All right. More specifically, these park rangers tranquilized a thousand rhinos in the last few months, cut off their horns, and left the rest of the beast unharmed. So the rhino remains alive. It wakes up after the tranks wear off.

It just looks like it got a bad haircut on the front. It's still a very rhino-looking rhino. It's just got a bulge instead of a horn. It's kind of like a knuckle on its nose situation, right? It's still very much looks like a rhino despite the de-horning. That rhino doesn't want to go to prom, but hey, that rhino's still alive and it's working well. Fortunately, rhinos don't have mirrors. Yet. But Jack, what is the result of this new strategy?

Since there's so little horn left on the rhino's head, the poachers don't even bother coming to shoot it. Right, like the rhino still functions, but the value of the horn has been dropped. Because an evil collector isn't going to pay 300 grand for like a snagletooth rinds. Rhino horn. That like guy in Jumanji is not spending his fortune on a ugly, weird, botched horn from a rhino. He wants the whole thing. I know exactly who you're talking about that guy. You know that guy. So it's working. Poaching deaths are down by 40% in the first two months of this experiment. And these park rangers plan to cut a thousand more horns next year for the same reason. Because every rhino that they dehorn, they potentially save too.

But Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are anyone in business? Economics is saving the rhino on both sides of the curve. Yeties, the horn removal strategy we just described, it's clearly paid off. Because it's reduced the demand for poachers. But an even more creative strategy we've discovered is to do the opposite of that. To increase the supply of horns. You are not going to believe this. We're talking about fake horns to save the real horns.

This is a separate story from what's happening in South Africa, okay? But it's also about rhino horns. Yeah, there's a startup in Seattle called Pembient that has created a synthetic horn that's identical to the real rhino horn. And they've dumped all of these synthetic horns that are indecipherable from real rhino horns into the black market, which is caused like chaos. And that's the brilliant idea. By flooding the market with fake horns, the price of all the horns ends up dropping. Also, the buyers of these horns are uncertain if they're getting a real horn or a fake horn, which further lowers the price of rhino horns. So to ruin the economics of poaching, this startup.

has increased the supply of horns artificially. And at the same time, in South Africa, they're cutting off the demand, literally. What Jack and I are saying is that they're using supply and demand, the fundamental of economics to save the rhino. In Seattle and in South Africa, they should get Nobel prizes for these brilliant, like both peace and economics nobels. Jack, it's like Mother Nature and Adam Smith hooked up and came up with a brilliant idea. Yet he's not all heroes wear capes.

These rhino rescuers, they wear econ degrees. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, one of the biggest apps right now is creating your TikTok and Instagram vids. That app is Capcut. Capcut is another Chinese tech product that's beating the West with speed. Now, besties, a pro tip here from a couple of guys in the industry. Jack, what do we notice in social media these days? The most engaging content on social media isn't pictures.

Yeah, it's videos. That's what's getting the engagement. is good, your wedding pick, not as good. It's not going to get on the explore page. It's not going to be discovered. It's still beautiful. We should point out. You look fantastic. You look fantastic. That floral arrangement to die for. It's stunning. But video is taken over social media and it's led to the rise of a new app called Capcut. Capcut. The most downloaded app for video editing by far. So the reason Capcut is so big is because of its ease to use. You can use it if you're professional, but it's also used by your buddy Timmy, who is no photo editing background.

And if Timmy uses it, he can apply that zoom in, zoom out video effect that makes an otherwise boring video feel kind of dynamic. Or if you've seen those rapid, bouncy subtitles that capture your eye, that video probably used Capcut. Your buddy who posted a Mekino's highlight video that looks like Steven Spielberg directed it? Yeah, probably Capcut. The podcasters you love who post clips on YouTube shorts, they're using Capcut. Even NBC's Olympic team is probably using Capcut for their social video highlights. But yet, is the surprise about Capcut

isn't its features, it's Capcut size. If you jump into the App Store right now, the number eight app overall is Capcut. In fact, over 300 million people use Capcut every single month. Jack, can you sprinkle on some contacts, please?

That's the same number of active users as Pinterest and is probably more users than Twitter. And it's wild because Capcut is a utility app and yet it's being used by as many people's like social media. But the biggest shocker of all isn't that it's the number one video editing app. It's that it's bigger than the number two through five apps combined. Combined.

Adobe and Canva, they are the legends of video editing, and yet they're being eaten up by Capcut. Adobe, the maker of Photoshop and Pro Premiere, just saw its stock get downgraded because of the threat from Capcut. But, Jack, we should point something out here because Capcut sounds like a startup, but it isn't exactly a small startup, is it, man? It's owned by TikTok's parent company. Yeah. So TikTok is its sister. Now, both Capcut and TikTok could get banned if they don't sell away from their Chinese owner, Bite Dance. But the movement they represent, powered by Chinese tech, seems unstoppable.

And we discovered why. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in tech? China has a new secret to disrupting Western technology. And that secret is speed. Yetis, get this, shocker. Four out of the top 10 apps in the app store right now are Chinese apps. In fact, we notice Chinese disruptors are disrupting Western disruptors. Yes, they are.

With speed. For example, Walmart got disrupted by Amazon, but now Timu is disrupting both with speed. Another example, the gap got disrupted by H&M, but now Xien is disrupting both with speed. Even General Motors got disrupted by Tesla, but, Now BYD is disrupting both with speed. Chinese tech isn't necessarily doing something new. No. They're just doing the same thing faster than the Western tech companies.

They're disrupting Western tech, but they're doing it with speed. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to head into the weekend? Big tech companies are showing their AI receipts this week to Wall Street. In Big Tech, there are AI buyers, there are AI sellers, and then there's some AI schmucks. Yeah, there are. For our second story, the number of rhinos killed by poachers is down, thanks to a novel, preemptive dehorning strategy. Rhinos are being rescued by economics on both sides of the curve. And our third and final story is Capcut. The mobile first video editing app has become a major threat to Adobe and Canva.

Timu, She and BYD, and now Capcut are all disrupting Western tech with speed. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, big news and journalism, the United States has negotiated the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. More than just journalism, though, because we're also bringing home a former U.S. Marine named Paul Whalen. Both were held without evidence on charges of espionage by Russia, but both are coming home as part of a multi-country prisoner swap. Second, Amazon reported disappointing earnings yesterday after the stock market closed. Oh, Apple? Apple reported some disappointing earnings too.

iPhone sales fell sending Apple stock down. Jack, do we have a common theme here for Apple and Amazon? Both are banking on AI to help them show rebounding profits. A-I-FOMO. And finally, Squid Game, season two, is dropping December 26 on Netflix the day after Christmas. Squid Game, the Korean thriller about playing a kid's game in a very scary way. Early prediction here by Jack and me, we expect a record number of bingers to complete the show by New Year's Eve that will slow down the entire U.S. Internet on Christmas Day. Another day after Christmas. That's when this drops.

Everyone's going to slide into the New Year feeling dystopian. A little depressed. I didn't watch it. You did, though, right? Yeah, I still have nightmares. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because Jack, what day is it exactly? beer deck. Yes, it is. Except at the Olympics.

Because get this, Yetis, there is no booze being served to the spectators at these Olympic games. It all stems from a 1991 French lot, limiting the sale of alcohol and tobacco at large events like the Olympics. Each sports organization can sell alcohol at up to 10 events per year.

But since the Olympics contain more than 700 events, they would have had to apply for an exemption. Now, the Rugby World Cup, they were held in France last year, and they applied for an examiner. Zemshin to sell booze at the rugby matches. Not too shabby.

But given the whole river cleanup, like drama, the Paris games decided to keep the booze out of the equation. So if you're in Paris and you say, Jevudre an Heineken, a Kronenberg, a Modello, or a Bud Light, Jack, what's the answer going to be? Not possible. Not possible. Yeah, it is.

You look fantastic going into the weekend. Jack, so many wins to celebrate this week. Awesome, John. I can't wait to see you next week, man. Yeah, I'm flying to SF on. Tuesday morning. Can't wait. I leave at 6 a.m.

Wonderful. Linned to SFO around 11.30 local time. Yes. And then I'm going to go to bed at like 11 o'clock my time. One second. I'm taking notes. I'm getting your calendar all set right now for you, Jack. Yet he celebrates some wins this weekend.

Tell your buddies H-Y-H-T-B-O-I and Jack. We'll see him on there. And before we go, a happy birthday and a special birthday to Rich Roll and Newburyport, Massachusetts, who is two years cancer-free, Jack, just outside Boston. Congratulations, Rich. And Lucy Smolowski is turning four years old in Centennial, Colorado.

Enjoy that fourth birthday, Lucy. And happy birthday to Joanna Agda Kewitz in Chicago, Illinois. He's drinking some red wine to celebrate the birthday. Don't do logistics after the red wine. And Justine K is turning a big 30 years old in Boston, just inside Boston, the art director, and a legendary Yeti. And happy birthday to Errol Newinchfonder in Denver, Colorado. And Yaha Abdullah up in Seattle. is celebrating a fantastic birthday.

Congratulations to Teia Fry in Oxford, England for getting a new job and got into three master's programs. And Dolores Daya in Berlin, Germany just passed her driving exam, and her passenger prince is now pumped to get ridden all around Bavaria, baby. Berlin's not in Bavaria, but it's a long road trip. It's a long road trip. And Sander Lember and Jacqueline Jerv in Taylin Estonia are celebrating that they were not playing against Christina and Silver in the Padel tournament. And congratulations to Jack Kaufman and Chrissy Weston,

who are getting married this weekend. Jack's from Dary Ann, Chrissy's from Queens, but together, they're putting on the most fantastic, beautiful wedding we've ever seen. And to anyone else, celebrate something today. Make it a T-Bor. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Netflix,

and Nick and I both own stock of Apple and ETFs of the S&P 500. The student has become the master. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. And I'll have a Bud Lion and Jack, what are they going to say? And you're like, you can't have it. That's a day for you said.