The Best One Yet - 🥇 “Gollllllld” — Costco’s gold bars. Microsoft’s nuclear reactor. Levi’s over-firing strategy.

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

Ask Nick & Jack (almost) anything with this form.  The newest and fastest-selling product at Costco? 1 oz gold bars — Because gold is the financial emergency survival kit for money.Microsoft is hiring for a surprising new role — Microsoft needs someone to build its own nuclear power plant. And Levi’s outgoing CEO has one major regret: He wishes he’d fired *more* people — Because you should “fire fast and hire slow.”$GOLD $COST $LEVI $MSFT Subscribe to our newsletter: 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. It's Friday, the real Friday, September 29th. And today's pod is just the best one yet. It is a T-boy, Jack. Nick, can I ask you a question. Yes, you can ask me a question. Do you have a question for me?

I did have a question for you, but I heard other people like questions for us too. Yeties, we actually have a new feature that we're launching this week called Ask Us Almost Anything. Little ask risk on that. Jack and I are taking questions that we will answer in our newsletter every single week. So if you've been dying to ask us a question, click the link in the show notes, and you can ask us almost anything. Stocks we own, how we get our news, favorite type of lizard, what we do to sprinkle on the razzle dazzle, sprinkle dinkle, you name it. We want to engage with the Yetis. We want to engage with the besties.

The origins of the cookie crisp. Submit your question in the link in the show notes. Perfect timing, Jack, because I got a question for you. What do you got? What's the first story for today's show? For our first story, Costco, just sold out of gold bars. We repeat, Costco is selling gold bars, and they're all sold out of them. Because in finance, gold is the emergency survival kit.

Second story, what do we got for this show, Jack? Microsoft is building its own nuclear power plants. Microsoft is hiring a nuclear scientist. We'll explain why this software company has its own Manhattan project. And third and final story, man. Levi's CEO just announced he's stepping down, and he also told us his biggest regret. He should have fired more people. The rule number one of HR at T-Boy, fire fast, higher slow.

But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stars. What a lead into these stories. That was like an opus, Jack. I loved it. We finally have Tinder Super Premium Plus, the dating subscription for $500 a month. Tinder has gone from Fucci to Gucci with a new $500 dating subscription. Don't worry, Yeti Swipers. Regular Tinder is still free.

Yes, it is. Or you can pay $500. a month for a super premium service. Let's whip out the calculators here. $500 a month. That is $6,000 a year. For $500 a month, romance should be a write-off. Hey, Cupid, do you take Amex?

Love is patient. Love is blind. Love is expensive, too. In this economy, Jack? Yeah, it is this new feature. It's real and it's fantastic. It's called Tinder Select and it's invite only. Only the most active of Tinder users are going to get a special invite to this thing.

So for 500 bucks, you must be wondering, what do you get? get for Tinder select. I'm glad you asked, Jack, you're going to get VIP search, VIP matching, and VIP conversation features. That's all Tinder would tell us about it. Yeah, it's also going to include a little dentier credit rating. Yeah, that's right. But for $500, Tinder should be doing more. Like, they should be making your dinner reservations for your date. Jack, for 500 bucks a month, Tinder should pre-plan the wedding. For 500 bucks a month, Nick, the app should be swiping you. I lost a honeymoon in this thing, Tinder. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies charging six grand a year for a dating service.

We've said before that the most important financial decision of one's life is who that person marries. Well, some Tinder power users are about to invest $500 a month. Because you can't put a price on love. Except Tinder, just put a price on love. Tinder just did. It's $500

a month. Sorry. I'd love to see the refund policy, by the way. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Check please! 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but 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, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show. For our first story, Costco's hottest new product, it's gold bars. Yeah, not Kirkland Golf Balls, Kirkland Gold bars. Like literal gold bars.

Gold. Silver and gold. Because crazy or craft. gold is still the OG financial hedge. Yes, sir, it is. But Jack, before we jump to this story, I know you're now a newly card-carrying Costco member. What have been you reaching purchases?

My wife recently bought a 30-pack of dehydrated seaweed, which she eats as a snack. Are you buying more pineapple for your smoothies? What about that? Is that what you're buying over there? No, I'm a peanut butter smoothie guy. Yesterday you misspoke. I don't have pineapple on my smoothies.

I noticed pineapple in there. But Jack, when you go to Costco lately, are you buying any gold? Yeties. Costco randomly just launched the sale of one ounce physical gold bars on Costco.com. We're talking like nearly footlong golden solid gold bars. These things aren't like, these are $1,980 a bar. They include UPS shipping and they require signature for delivery. Costco is selling golden bar. This was so shocking that on the earnings call this week,

analysts literally asked the CEO, um, what's the deal with the gold bars? And Jack, what did the CEO of Costco said? He said, I don't know. We kind of randomly put them on there, but they sold out in minutes. Get this. The gold bars are selling so fast on Costco that they had to limit it to two per a customer. Since I'm a member, I logged into Costco.com. They won't sell me any because they're sold out.

Literally, Costco's got the mightest touch on this stuff. But yet is the real reason that Costco decided to sell eight inch bars of one ounce of gold? Because people really want gold bars right now. What are people doing when they get that bar of Swiss gold from their local Costco? The thing is, they're not melting it down into jewelry to do a DIY necklace and surprise their wife. No, they're buying Costco gold as a form of investment. Old like other precious metals is traded in financial markets, and Costco wants in on that. Because over the past five years, gold has outperformed the S&P 500.

Gold is up 55% in the past five years. Which leads to the question, is the Costco shopper decked out in camo snagging bars of gold? actually making a savvy financial move? I wouldn't say that. That guy's probably stuffing the gold bars under his mattress. And the reason why is because Costco is selling that gold bar right next to its survivalist goods, isn't it, Jack? Like flashlights, batteries, and never expiring food packs. They also have gold.

But Yeties, there is a financial rationale for why that guy in Camo is buying a lot of gold bars now available at Costco. And that financial rationale is as old as time. So, Jack, what's the takeaway? Over an aisle 6, the new El Dorado over at Costco. Gold is an emergency survival pack for money. Yeties, gold has proved once again, it's the long-time fear investment. Actually, there is a close correlation between gold and pessimism. The times that consumers flock to gold is when there's fear in the air.

Besties, let's look at when gold has spiked in the last five years. When the pandemic happened, gold jumped. Silicon Valley Bank crisis, gold jumped. Russia invades Ukraine. Gold jumps. Because in times of civil unrest or financial uncertainty, gold can actually be appealing. Because gold has intrinsic value, and it has for hundreds of years across the whole world. But here's the funny thing, besties. While gold has intrinsic value, it doesn't create value. Gold does nothing. It is a store of value, but it's not going to make you any money.

Yeah, that's the difference between gold and other financial assets like stocks and bonds. Stocks, bonds, even savings accounts right now, they can generate real income for your money. Gold, it can't. So gold only has value in the event of disaster. Gold is the fear investment. So that's why Costco is selling gold bars next to flashlights, because gold is an emergency survival pack for money. For our second story, Microsoft wants clean energy so badly

that they're building a Microsoft nuclear power plant. We'll explain why a software company, known for Office and Windows PCs, has its own Manhattan purse. But Yetis, in order to tell you this story, we're going to go back to 2020 when Microsoft was feeling very good about itself and decided to become carbon negative. Microsoft announced they were going to be carbon negative by 2030. Microsoft's worth $2 trillion. They're feeling a little moral obligation and guilt to stop warming the earth. And there's actually a competition among the big, rich tech companies to out pledge each other on sustainability. Like, we're going to save the world.

No, we're going to save the world. We're going to save the world. Okay, put out a press release explaining how we're going to do. to save the world better than they're saving the world. But yet, here's the problem with Microsoft Save the World Pledge. Microsoft uses so much electricity to power those servers and those data centers. Yeah, that no amount of solar or wind energy can deliver the clean energy that they need. And now that Microsoft is going all in on AI, oh, do you know what that means?

They need even more electricity for that supercomputer. Which means what's Microsoft's newest thing, Jack? Microsoft isn't working on Windows 23. They're working on their own nuclear power plant. Multiple nuclear power plants. Yet is here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We know about Microsoft's nuclear power plants because of a job listing that Microsoft just posted. Microsoft is hiring right now for principal program manager in nuclear technology.

Look, besties, Jack and I have told you before. If you want to know what our company's plans are or their priorities, look on their job board. The assignment for this person they're trying to hire is to develop a strategy to power Microsoft's data centers with mini nuclear reactors. We repeat, Yetis. Microsoft wants someone to man the nuclear reactors powering your PowerPoint. The next time you're crunching an equation in Excel, the server that that spreadsheets on could be run by Microsoft nukes. Because Yeti's back in 2020, Microsoft used 10 terawatt hours of electricity. That's a lot of electricity. Jack, can you sprinkle on a little context here?

It's more electricity than the nation of Costa Rica that year. So, instead of some random mix of wind and solar energy, Microsoft is going for the single bazooka solution. It's going for nuclear. Because the number one source of carbon-free electricity by far is nuclear. Yes, so Sachinadella is looking for the next Bobby Oppenheimer. Microsoft is hiring someone to split the atom. Not for a bomb, but for electricity.

For your spreadsheet. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over? at Microsoft. It's hoarders' almanac week 171. We've got a shortage of uranium. Yeties, funny thing Jack and I noticed as we research this story, it's not just Microsoft looking to nuclear to erase their carbon footprint right now. A steel company just yesterday announced plans to build their own nuclear power plant so that they can market the first ever green steel. Besties, so many companies are focused on decarbonizing right now that they're looking for a literal nuclear option. They're looking for nuclear. And the sudden surge in demand has caused a shortage in uranium.

Yeah, for example, two key uranium stocks, there are 50% this year because they just can't keep up with all the uranium love. Okay, movie villains love uranium, it seems. Microsoft wants uranium. But nuclear reactors require uranium. So after four decades of being economically canceled, nuclear is back in a big way. Nuclear is so hot right now. Uranium is unobtainium. For our third and final.

story before the weekend. Levi's CEO is stepping down and he's famous for firing people, firing executive people. And guess what? His biggest regret is not firing more people. But yeties, let's go back to the gold rush because Levi's has been making jeans literally since the gold rush. Yeah. Levi's has been based in San Francisco since 1853. But here's the thing. In those 170 years, 2011 was the worst moment for Levi's, the company. In 2011, Levi's was in trouble. Because there was plenty of demand for denim. People just weren't buying Levi's Demand. You were buying Jay Crew, free people, seven for all mankind. Jack was preferential to the gap, weren't you? I was still buying the gap. Yeah. Loyal since I was a 16 husk. I think it looked

great. Sales were down about 40% from Levi's peak and they had $2 billion racked up in debt. But then the new CEO took over and that CEO was Chip Berg. Chip Berg. Chip Berg. And Chipberg turned Levi's around like it was a laundromat. Yeti's, Chip Berg cut the debt of Levi's by 75% and the company has experienced double-digit sales growth nearly every year since then. Chip even took Levi's public in 2019. Levi's had an IPO. And Chip Berg became the first man to wear jeans on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. That's right. The New York Stock Exchange made it one exception to their rule of no jeans and it was for Levi's IPO. But Yetis, Jack and I were curious, how did this leader, Chip Berg, turn around Levi's jeans.

It wasn't the 5-11 cut. It wasn't the Canadian tuxedo either. No, it was not what was it, Jack. It was an aggressive management strategy focused on firing. Literally firing executives. Chip Berg just told Fortune Magazine his philosophy on firing. Yeah, it's pretty simple. He said the easiest way to change the culture is to change the people.

So when Chip Berg took over Levi's in 2011, he changed the culture by changing the people. Yeah, Jack, all right. So when he took over, he had 11 direct reports. But like, how many of those did he keep? He kept two of them. He fired the other nine. Carol from accounting? She's out.

Frank and finance? Here's a box. Pack up your things. This is her last day. I don't even think he has authority over Darlene at Duncan. But what happened to her, Jack? She pumped her last pumps. Let's put it that way.

So Yeties. Chip Berg took over Levi's and tossed out executives in the laundry like a pair of straight leg Calvin Klein's. And here's the wildest part. Chip is leaving now. And he said that his biggest regret was that he didn't fire even more people. Sit down, stand up, and sign this form again. Yeties, he just said his biggest regret is that he didn't fire more people. The guy known for a management strategy of firing people

says his biggest mistake was not firing even more people. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies still employed over at Levi's? Hire slow, fire fast. Yet he's firing sucks. Like, it's just not fun. It's not good. It's not enjoyable for anyone. But if someone should be fired and isn't fired, that hurts the company in a lot of ways. If an underperformer remains at the company, it impacts people around that person, too. For example, Slack or Sandy's peers, they resent that Sandy is still at the company. Slack or Sandy's direct reports, they quit because they don't want to work for this guy who's no good. Well, Chip's failure to fire people who deserved it resulted in him losing other people too.

He lost good people because he didn't get rid of the bad people. And that is why Jack and I love this phrase. Here's the phrase, hire slow and fire fast. And we use that at our company. Because when someone hasn't been a fit, it's never easy, but it's best to let them go ASAP. And since it's costly to fire people, it's more important to take your time in hiring so you get the right person. For example, Jack and I have two awesome full-time hires on the T-boy team. We actually worked with one of them for two years before we hired them full-time.

We hired that person slow. And the other, we were in contact for six months before we made her enough. We hired that person slow. Because of our favorite rule of HR, hire slow, fire fast. Higher slow. Fire fast. Fire fast.

Higher slow. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Gold bars were briefly for sale at Costco until they immediately sold out. Gold, because for centuries, gold has been the financial emergency survival kit for money. For our second story, Microsoft's trying to cut its carbon footprint, so they're building their own nuclear power plants. Nuclear. It's so hot. right now that uranium is unobtainium. And our third and final story, the outgoing CEO of Levi's,

his biggest regret was not firing even more people. Remember this one, Yetis. Higher slow. Fire fast. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the cannabis banking bill just moved past committee. It is heading to the Senate vote tomorrow for cannabis. This bill is not going to legalize marijuana nationwide, but it will let weed companies use banks if it's legal in the state. And second, Zuck just announced a whole bunch of AI chatbots that are soon going to show up in your Instagram feed and your WhatsApp. And instead of a faceless AI chat bot, you can make yours look like Tom Brady or 27 other celebs that Zuck picked out himself. And finally, remember when Delta annoyingly changed its loyalty program and screwed over

all of us loyal people who were so committed to the airline for so many years? Delta just apologize, Nick, Delta apologize. They said they went too far and they're making changes to give people lounge access again. Nick's like give me Delta lounge or give me death. A little diamond would make me feel a little better, Jack.

Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Lizanne Webb from lovely Webster New York. There are few things cooler in this world than seeing a whale breach the water. And few things more physically powerful than seeing a whale jump out of the water and then reenter the

water. Seriously. Get this, Yeties. When a humpback whale hits the water after jumping out of it, that's the equivalent splash of 33 elephants. We repeat one whale, 33 elephants. Full disclosure, I've never seen a humpback whale.

Well, I've never seen 33 elephants, Jack. Yeties, you looked fantastic all week. And if you've got questions like how many pineapples Jack puts in his smoothie, or how many bars of gold Nick has invested in, then ask us those questions by checking checking out the link in today's episode description.

You can ask us almost anything with the link in today's episode description. So Yeti's this weekend, ask us a question, celebrate the wins, and Jack and I will see you Monday. And before we go, happy birthday to Ben and Sam Zice's twins turning 39 over in New York City. These aren't just brothers. These are former woo mates. Speaking of wombates, happy birthday to Andrew McDarmid and Drew McDiarmid, a couple of other twins turning 30 over in Spain. And happy birthday to Gustavo Justo in Sao Paulo Brazil. And Anne Shane, congratulations on your first birthday as a mom over in California.

And happy birthday to Josh Turner, who's celebrating 31 in Maryland by doing a pilot lesson. And a happy birthday to Catherine Adelstein, who's celebrating on the beaches of San Diego. Happy birthday to Nurse Kayla Bolatera, celebrating with a bonfire on the beach down in San Diego. And David Fish, happy birthday. Enjoy the B-Day in Wheeling, Illinois. Happy birthday to El Werner in Willamette, Illinois. Just as a Chicago. And Lucas Carvala, born in Bome Jesus, Brazil, is turning 11 over in Houston. Happy birthday to Ryan Brown, who's celebrating over in Oregon on top of Mount Hood.

And a happy birthday to Lisa Adrian over in Riverside, California. And happy birthday to Chris Brown, who's freshly married, celebrating in Manchester, Connecticut. And Chris DeRugaro, happy 60th birthday over in Newport, Rhode Island. And happy birthday to Simon Rock. celebrating in the fields of Sonoma over in wine country. And Morgan Simrow and Brent Hollinger are getting married this weekend in Redding, California. Send us some picks. We got to see this thing. Congratulations to Will and Monica Fuller, celebrating five years of marriage and 23 years of being friends down in Dallas.

And Ben and Elaine Dela Cruz, happy new baby girl. She's a beauty in Fullerton, California. And congratulations to Eric Schmalt and his wife, who are pregnant with a third baby over in Colorado. This is Jack. I own stock of Levi. We're going to save the world. We're going to save the world. We're going to save the world. We're going to save the world.