The Best One Yet - 🐻 “Gummy Bear Billionaire” — Haribo’s un-changed strategy. Toyota’s hybrid victory. Newspapers’ billionaire savior.

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

Haribo is the biggest confectionery company on earth and it just gave us a rare update — The key to Harbibo’s success? It doesn’t change.While most car industry stocks are dropping, Toyota’s is near its all-time high — Because it made a winning bet 25 years ago: hybrids.And 3 of the biggest newspapers in the country were bought by 3 billionaires in the past decade, but they’re still losing money — Because journalism needs a new business model.$HSY $TM $AMZNSubscribe 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. Welcome back. It is Monday, January 22nd. And today's pod, it is the best one yet, Jack. Oh, this is just feeling like a T-boy man. Nick and I are serving up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But first, Jack, the S&P 500, the stock market just hit a record high, my friend.

I know. It must be the stock market's birthday. Speaking of which... Thank you, Jack. Happy 36. As for 2.3. things on my birthday. I said, I won a Susie Cake, Chocolate Marble Celebration Buttercream Cake. Of course you got that. And Wall Street to hit a record high. You got both.

I'll have another slice, Jack. Three stories for today's fantastic show. What do we got, man? For our first story, we just got an inside look at one of the world's oldest businesses, Haribo gummy bears. Yeti's Haribou became the biggest candy company on Earth by staying the same. For our second story, it's Toyota. Toyota. stock is about to hit an all-time high, thanks to one big bet it made 25 years ago. Toyota didn't bet on electric and Toyota didn't bet on gas. Toyota bet on hybrid. And our third and final story, three of America's biggest newspapers have been bought up recently by billionaires.

But those newspapers are still losing millions of dollars. And Nick and I found out why. We buried the lead on that one. But best news before we had that wonderful mix of stories. Couldn't have asked for a better mix of my birthday, Jack. Thank you. You've seen the rankings for like world's happiest countries, right? It's a great ranking. We see it. It comes out every year. Top of the list is Finland.

Every year, yetis, those fins are happier than a polar bear with an iced latte. Nick and I decided to find out what's the source for Finland's happiness. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and we discovered that the source of Finnish happiness is... The sauna. It's the sauna. Data shows that Finland's happiness is tied directly to the abundant. of saunas there. Finland celebrates the sauna, Jack.

Turns out, Yeti's the first known Finnish sauna was 4,000 years ago. So, Finns have been sitting in saunas since the ice age. Literally. Now, to those of you who've never had the pleasure, a sauna is a wood-paneled, heated room that gets up over 150 degrees Fahrenheit. And recent science shows that saunas energize your endorphins

driving your happiness. So it's not just schfits. It literally makes you happier. In fact, get these numbers that Jack and I discovered on the magic of Finnish saunas. There are three million sonas. They did like a census of saunas over in Finland. There's three million saunas in Finland. That is one sauna for every two fins.

And that implies that every household in Finland has a sauna. Every single one has their own sauna. Oh, but it doesn't stop there. We discovered that there are 60 public saunas just in the Finnish city of Helsinki. So Finland's capital has 30 times more sonnas than they do Starbucks. Because yet he's over in Finland, saunas are part of your daily routine. You have breakfast, you have lunch, you have dinner, and you have sauna. You catch up with your buddy Timo, over in the sauna.

You network with colleagues in a sauna. Yeah, even do your job interviews inside a son. Where do you see yourself in five minutes? Still in the sauna. Is it hot and heel or just me? So besties, Finns have found the secret to happiness. And that secret is 150 degrees of sweaty schvitsen. Nick, for your birthday, I just reserved us a half hour each at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sana.

Jack, we can use the Schvitz. Let's do it. 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 that's it. 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, the biggest confectionery company on Earth just gave us a rare inside look at the business. Haribo Gummies. It's Haribo Gummies. Haribo's success may be from never, ever changing.

But yeties, before Jack and I jump into this story, if you're a dentist or a dental hygienist, earmuffs. You're going to hate this story. Here it is, and let's start with a trivia question, Jack. Who invented the gummy bear? Well, the answer is Mr. Hans Regal from the German city of Bonn. Hans Regal from Bonn. Haribo.

Oh, my God, Jack. We put it together. We solved the case. Yet he was 102 years ago, Haribo, named after Hans Regal from Bon, literally invented the gummy bear. And today, they sell a thousand different varieties of gummy bear across 120 countries. And now this is a private, not a public company. But according to Bloomberg research, Harribo is the biggest confess. sectionary brand on earth.

Hershey's and Mars makes more candy in the United States, but nobody sells more candy in the world than Haribah. Yet he's Haribo is the Sultan of Sugar. It is the Chancellor of Chew. Jack, can we say it's the king of the cavity? Haribo brags that their annual production of gummy bears could wrap the world ten times. Yeah, it's the king of the cavity.

And 102 years after birthing the very first gummy bear, Haribo is still owned and run by that same family. family, the regals. But yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Haribo is the only company we have ever covered on this podcast that has said this. We will never change. We will never change. Like literally, the CEO of Haribo told Bloomberg last week that the company's German principles

come down to this. We don't like to change. If it ain't broke after 102 years over at Haribo, they don't fix it. For example, in the last century, they've only made one major change to their core product, the gummy bear. They changed its pose. Yeah, for the first 40 years, the Haribo classic gummy bear was like a dancing bear. It had its legs out. It was dancing. It was having fun.

Now it's a chubby bear. It's not dancing anymore. They basically just made the bear's tummy bigger and they made its legs not dancing. Only changed they've made in a century. Another example, their latest factory is the one they built in the United States in Wisconsin. But that factory has the same exact layout as all four. 15 other Haribo factories across the world. Now, Haribo does add new gummy flavors to cater to local tastes.

Because every country has a different taste for their gummy indulgence. Sweden likes licorice. Spain likes peach-flavored gommies. And the U.S. likes sour gums. Otherwise, Haribo does not do change. Will you make us a gummy vodka, Haribo? Nain, don'tca. CBD gommies? Niche.

An AI chatbot gummy? Gzuntaita. It's not happening. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who will not? never change over at Haribo. When you chase fads, you run out of gas. Yetis, Jack and I have told you on this show how hard, but how critical it is to innovate, to adapt, to evolve, to change.

Netflix is Netflix because they disrupted themselves. They pivoted from DVDs to streaming. But Blockbuster went bankrupt because they didn't evolve to streaming. They did not change. So when Haribo says they don't change, what they really mean is they don't change who they are. Haribo doesn't chase fads. change just because the outside world is telling them to change. For example, they didn't change their company resources to partner with the Barbie movie. They stayed focused on global expansion instead.

Haribo, they don't alter products for trends for publicity or for short-term viral hits. They stay focused on doing their thing. That's why Haribo still has the energy to sell more gummies than ever, after 102 years. Because besties, when you only chase fads, you run out of gas. For our second story, over the past year, there is a way. There is a way. one car stock that has just surprisingly surged ahead. And that car stock is Toyota. Because Toyota made one bet that no other car company was willing to make. Jack, if we're going to tell this story, can we whip out the car industry stock market scoreboard, please? Sure can, Nick. The stocks of Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen are all down by a lot in the past year. They're well off the record highs.

What about our buddies over at Tesla? How are they looking over there? Even Tesla's down 50% from their all-time high. Tesla, they're discounting cars like their J-Crew right now. Now, the problem for all those companies we just mentioned, it's premature electrification. Premature electrification. Jack, you want to share more on that, please? They all invested big in electric cars, but electric car sales have just been slowing. Yeah, for example, just last week, Ford announced that they're cutting production of their electric F-150 truck. Because there aren't enough buyers as they expected. But yet, there is one car stock that is close to an all-time high.

In fact, it's up 50% in the last year. And that car stock is Toyota. Because besties, unlike every other car company, Jack just kindly mentioned, Toyota made one big bet 25 years ago, and they stuck with that bet. Nick, in 1997, Toyota unveiled the Prius, which was the world's first hybrid. And that was the bet. The bet was on hybrids. And that Prius set expectations for all of us, what clean cars looked like.

Slow and ugly. Or is the analysts over at South Bark put in? Hey, is that a hybrid? Oh, yes, you've got one too, I see. Yeah, I like to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem. Well, anyway, good for you. Thanks. But today, Toyota has 13 other hybrids in addition to the Prius.

Jack, how about the RAV-4? I'm sorry, the hybrid RAV-4. Can you even get your hands on one of those? In Vermont, you've got to join a wait list. If yet he's a wait-list, Elon would love a wait-list. list for Teslas right now. Toyota has cars, SUVs, and trucks that are hybrids. The whole lineup, they're hybrids. Toyota is selling 13 different hybrids and only sells one purely electric car. It's a bold strategy. They've basically boycotted the fully electric car trend that Tesla has

started. And it looks like that big, bold bet by Toyota is working. Americans bought 640,000 Toyota hybrids last year. That's a huge number. Jack, could you sprinkle on some hybrid context for us, please, over there? That's the same number of Toyota hybrids bought. by Americans as Tesla's bought by Americans. So what we're saying is that for every one new Tesla that an American buys, they buy one new Toyota hybrid as well. There ain't no chassis like a hybrid chassis. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over at Toyota? Americans are EV curious, but first, they need training wheels.

Yeties, a year ago, Toyota was being roasted as being a non-believer in electric vehicles. But their approach for hybrids instead was actually just what Americans needed. Well, Jack and I should point out, Americans did buy a record 1.2 million electric vehicles last year, including us. But that was actually a disappointment for the car companies. They expected more electric cars to be sold. But some Americans just aren't ready for that big switch. Look, many Americans feel like they're being forced to drive an electric car. So instead, Toyota is inviting them to drive a hybrid.

The way we see it, plug-in hybrids are like training wheels. like you learn to charge and drive an electric car. But they spare you the anxiety of running out of battery. So Toyota's bet on hybrids was the opposite of every other car company, but it's paying off. Because Americans are EV curious, but first they need training wheels. For our third and final story, Time magazine, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times all got acquired by billionaires, but they are all still losing money. because journalism isn't a business, but it's expected to be. But Jack, not to go all New York Fashion Week,

but can you tell us the cool billionaire accessory out there these days? It's not a private jet or a second yacht for your third house. It's buying a newspaper. Back in 2013, Jeff Bezos bought the venerable Washington Post for a whopping $250 million. And Jeff started a trend. Billionaires have been buying icons of journalism and running them as a side hustle.

Salesforce founder Mark Benioff acquired Time magazine for $190 million. And a biotech billionaire but the LA Times for $500 million. But Yeties, here's the news. According to a New York Times report, each of those three papers and magazines lost millions of dollars last year. The key issue? It's actually kind of obvious. People don't like to read as much these days. They prefer watching videos to get their news.

The reality is people would rather watch a 30-second video of a news story instead of reading the whole thing that's as long as enough. It's unfortunate because these LA Times articles are great, but there's some TikTok creator who's probably making more money off it than the Times newspaper itself. But here's the surprise yet. You have these hugely successful business billionaires buying up these newspapers and yet the newspapers are losing millions of dollars. Why is that happening? They weren't able to turn them around. Maybe the billionaires aren't trying to fix the newspapers. Maybe they're just trying to fund the news. Pesties, for a couple centuries, the journalism business model was funded by classified ads.

No joke. Like, as recently as the year 2000, newspapers made $20 billion on classified ads. That's how newspapers made their money for so long. But then Craigslist and online job sites and Facebook marketplace killed that entire paid ad business that newspapers lived off. So today, the top journalistic institutions find other sources of funding, for example. Jack. The New York Times makes money from crossword puzzles and cooking recipes to fund their journalism. NPR makes money from donors to fund their journalism. And Fox News makes money from cable TV subscribers. Well, the Washington Post, L.A. Times and Time magazine, they used billionaires to fund their journalism. Maybe their top priority wasn't to make these papers profitable.

Maybe the priority was to keep these papers in business. And Jack, maybe Waystar Royco wanted to merge with tech company GoJJJol. to fund their journalism. True. Yeah, true. It checks out. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over in journalism? Journalism shouldn't be a business, but it's expected to be. Yet he's an interesting thing.

The CEO of the New York Times doesn't just run a business and worry about profits and losses. He's also on the phone trying to negotiate the release of one of his journalists who's being held hostage somewhere. It's crazy. Journalists perform incredibly important. and sometimes really dangerous jobs out there. Journalists are explicitly protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. That's how important they are. What Jack and I are trying to say here is journalism.

It's not a typical business. And despite the importance and uniqueness of journalism, not enough people are willing to pay a subscription to fund it. So a free press and good journalism, that is a key to a democracy. We just need to find its next business model. Jack, can you whip up the take? Quiz for us to kick off the week. Haribo is run and owned by the same family for 102 years,

and it's the biggest candy company in the world. Here's the key. Haribo won't change, because when you chase fads, you eventually run out of gas. For our second story, Toyota stock is booming, thanks to their big bet on hybrid cars. Americans are EV curious, which means they need training wheels. And our third and final story. Three iconic newspapers have been bought by billionaires,

but they're still losing money. So we're still looking for the next business model for journalism. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Reddit is looking to go public with an IPO as early as March this year. Reddit's IPO would be the biggest IPO of the year so far and the first social media IPO since Pinterest. And second, mortgage rates just hit their lowest levels since May.

The 30-year mortgage is now under 7%. It's historically high, but that 7% could actually jumpstart the housing market. And finally, the new president of Japan Airlines climbed to the top of the company, literally. Mitsuku Totori started as a flight attendant at Japan Airlines. Now she's leading the company. That is an upgrade. That's not rags to riches. That's economy to first class?

Yeah. Economy to CEO. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me. We decided to whip it up for my birthday. We decided to go with a little dessert theme here, didn't we, Jack? It's actually a T-Boy tradition. The birthday boy gets to have the best fact yet.

This is what I was thinking. In addition to a slice of cake, I wouldn't mind some other desserts. Well, 60% of restaurants regularly offer dessert in America. Only 60%. It means that 40% of restaurants do not offer dessert. They don't have a dessert menu. What are you guys thinking? Because the same surveys show that over half of Americans

regularly consume dessert on an ever. everyday basis. So it feels like a missed opportunity for the restaurants to make a little extra cash at the end of the meal. Ice cream, Sundays, and other desserts are way more profitable than like your slamming salmon suave dish. Now, as a former Olive Garden waiter. Talk to us, Jack. Expertise.

I kind of preferred that they'd pass on dessert because the extra money I could make through a tip on the dessert, I'd rather just get a new table in, get new drinks on the table, new meals on the table, because you make more money that one. Jack, would a key lime pie kill you over there? What's going on, man? You would pass on a tear in the suit for the table. Are you kidding me? If it was you, I'd be all into that key lime pie.

I think I know what's going on here. I think you just didn't like the candle and having to like bring it over with the candle not going out. Is that what it is? I did have to sing a song in fake Italian, if that's what you're saying. Bon compliano. Yates, you are looking fantastic to kick off the week. Actually, Jack, you know, I'm celebrating the birthday in a few weeks, right?

I've got to spread it out over the month. You're going to get something in the mail. Wait, I'm going to get something to celebrate your birthday? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The celebration's coming. Okay. Reverse surprise party. Okay.

I'm very excited about this. And we'll update you on the pod when we figure out what this is. All right. Yeah, if you haven't yet, click to follow us so you get this podcast every single day. And so you find out what this reverse surprise party is all about someday. If you know, you know. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait.

And before we go, a happy seven-month birthday to my son. Maxie Martel down the street in San Francisco. He's turning seven months. And happy 36 year birthday to Nick Martel from San Francisco, via Philadelphia, via New York City, via Middlebury, Vermont, via Florence, Italy, via New York City again. And that really fun party weekend we had in Berlin, yeah. Yes, never forget. And happy birthday to DJ Jazzy Jeff in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

And happy birthday to Emily Beale over. in Greenwich, Connecticut. And happy birthday to Brandon Lex, celebrating on a work trip up in Connecticut. And Guy Fieri, happy birthday. Apparently he's celebrating at a diner or a drive-in or a dive. And happy birthday to Katie Lubkis.

She's not a regular accountant. She's a cool account in Denver, Colorado. And congratulations to Justin Castodio, who's on parental leave in Fresno, California. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack.

I own stock of Netflix. and Ford.