The Best One Yet - 💁‍♀️ “Gwyneth goes to Tarjay” — Goop’s hot pivot. Netflix’s LA movie theater. Cruise’s robotaxi brake.

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Netflix spent $70M over 3-years to renovate the most historic movie theater in America — Because there’s corporate *philanthropy* and then there’s corporate *heroism*.Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop is making a risky move: Launching in Target – She’s trying to stretch the brand from aspirational to accessible.And Cruise robotaxis, the self-driving startup owned by GM, just had its worst month yet — It’s not the mistake they made, it’s how they handled it.$NFLX $TGT $GMSubscribe 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, November 10th. And today's part, it is the best one yet. It's a T-boy, Jack. How was your flight back, my friend? I just arrived back in Vermont because I'm hosting friends for Friendsgiving this weekend. Not too, I mean, you got to start early on the Thanksgiving, Jack.

We're not eating turkey this weekend, though. We're eating barbecue brisket. Good move. By the way, I just got out of North Jack. I'm in lovely Santa Barbara right now, baby. Just 24 hours ago. We were together in L.A. Now we're in opposite places.

One second. I got to go put suntan lotion over on Oprah, Jack. Does Oprah live out there? I'm coming Oprah. I'm on my way. Jack, first story. I got to get over to Oprah, man. It's Montecito, baby.

For our first story, Netflix just rescued the most historic movie theater in America. Not all heroes wear capes, but the business development team in Netflix, they wear capes. For our second story, it's Cruise. GM's Robotaxy Company just pressed pause on all self-driving cars. So we hailed one of the Robotaxies, and we'll tell you how it went. And our third and final story is Goop. Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is making its biggest, riskiest bet yet. Gwynny is going to Tarjeet, baby.

But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oprah, I said I'm coming. Jack, I got to go. I got to help. Nick, we have a news notification from Bootstrap Bill. You ready for this? Talk to me, Jack. What are we seeing? The biggest maritime drama in years. Yet he's the biggest financial feud on. the high seas. It is happening right now. A shipwreck was just discovered off the coast of South America.

That shipwreck happens to be worth $20 billion. Did you just say parlay? Yet he's off the coast of Columbia is a 300-year-old ship that was found on the bottom of the sea. It's a 62-gun Spanish galleon on the floor of the Caribbean Sea. Or is it Caribbean? What do you want to go with? And this ship is on the bottom of the sea because it was sunk by the British-Name. naval fleet way back in 1708. Jack, what is inside that very ship that's on the bottom of the sea right now? An estimated $20 billion of treasure. Yes, let's look at the ship list here.

This ship, it's got silver and gold from the mines of Peru. It's got chests full of Colombian emeralds. It's got millions of pesos and gold and silver and coins, according to one historian, $20 billion worth. Now, can I sprinkle on some context for how much money $20 billion is? Jack, put on a peg leg and sprinkle on some context for us, please. $20 billion could buy you four lifts. Eddie's $20 billion is 5% of Columbia's GDP. Now, if we're talking about that much booty, there's going to be drama.

Yeah, and when there's treasure, there is a whole lot of drama, Jack. So the U.S. company that discovered this shipwreck, they want to keep the reward. But the Colombian government that's near the shipwreck, they also want to keep the reward. What a Nick and I think? They may have to settle this pirate style. Winner gets the gold loser. You're walking the plank, man. Nick, what's a pirate's favorite letter?

No, Jack. You thought I'd say, but it's the sea. Hey, Jack Sparrow, we'll keep you updated on what happens with the shipwreck. In the meantime, Blackbeard, let's hit our three stars.

Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack, Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to crack.

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, Netflix looked like a hero yesterday. It just rescued the most historic movie theater in the world.

There is corporate philanthropy. And then there's corporate heroism. Okay, Jack, yesterday was a pretty, pretty good day for Hollywood, wasn't it, man? Not just because you and I took a selfie in front of the Hollywood sign. Which we did. Guilty. Jack was glowing. We had to do it. But also because the actor strike ended. So cameras will be rolling again pretty soon in Hollywood. But Yeties, here's the story Jack and I want to tell you.

There was actually one other Hollywood gem that also came back yesterday. The Egyptian theater in Hollywood reopened after a three-year renovation. But Yetis, in order for us to tell this story, and in order for us to express the magnitude of this story, We got to go back 101 years. 1922. The Egyptian theater in Hollywood, California, premiered the movie Robin Hood. Yeah, for the first time ever, a theater rolled out a carpet, and that carpet was red.

Yeah, everyone's like, why is there a red carpet in front of this movie theater? It was the first red car. Like, you'd stop, and people, they didn't know if to ask you who you were wearing. That wasn't a thing. But the actors stood around on the red carpet, and photos were taken of them. Eventually they figured it out. Yet is the Egyptian theater. It invented the red carpet and it invented the movie premiere.

So the Egyptian theater is a Hollywood historical landmark. Throw it on your list of places to go. Like Yankee Stadium. It's on the bucket list, right, Jack? Yeah. Or that garage in Paul Alto where they built the first computer. Or that dorm room where we met, Jack. That was pretty cool.

The Egyptian theater is the most famous movie theater in the world. Yes. And it's probably also the first place. where they sold the first movie junior men. But yet, he's, that was 100 years ago. That theater in the meantime has fallen on hard times. It was owned by a nonprofit. It was badly in need of repair.

No one was stepping up. It could have been demolished. That's when Netflix saw an opportunity. They went and bought the Egyptian theater. Netflix went from reels to real estate, baby. Which brings us to the news. This week, Netflix reopened the Egyptian theater. Thursday night was the first showing in three years.

Turn on the popcorn machine. This theater has never. looks better. Jack, we talk about the numbers here, please. She got a three-year, $70 million renovation. It preserved the history, but it added like speakers, because literally this is from the silent era. I mean, Jack, huge miss here. They could have turned the renovation into a Netflix movie, right? 70 million dollars, right? They probably did that, Nick, but great call. Great call. We better see that. Million dollar listing, literally. Now, what's Netflix going to do with this new theater that they own that looks better than ever?

Well, on weekdays, Netflix is going to premiere Netflix original movies in this new Netflix movie theater. With a red carpet. And on weekends, that same nonprofit, they're going to show classic cinema to the public, consistent with their nonprofit mission. Now, of course, Netflix isn't UNICEF. But, Jack, what is Netflix really doing here, man? Netflix is feeding two birds with one scone. Two birds get one scone, because Netflix is giving their films the big celebratory premiere moment that Hollywood talent craves. And it's preserving an emotionally important Hollywood landmark.

So, Jack, can you give us a little twirl over there and tell us what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Netflix? There's corporate philanthropy, and then there's corporate heroism. Yet he's Jack and I love to see headlines of corporations donating money to noble causes. But donations, they don't buy attention like this thing, Dan. What Netflix did here is something very different. Netflix has exponentially gained more PR than a typical donation. Because Netflix looks like a hero by saving the Egyptian theater. They look like a superhero, a superhero that saved a Hollywood treasure that happens to be very convenient business-wise.

Because they just won some major goodwill, not just from customers, but from Hollywood actors and the Hollywood producers. Yeah, some of whom may not have been Netflix fans before they did this. But maybe now they are because they saved the Egyptian theater. Yeties, think of the potential here. Imagine if General Motors had rescued the old Penn Station in New York. They would have played hero to public transportation. That would have been incredible. Imagine if Facebook had rescued America's local newspapers and played hero to local news.

Jack, imagine if Lego had rescued F.A.O. Schwartz, the legendary toy store. It would have been a hero to everyone who is a child worldwide. Because Yetis, there's corporate philanthropy and that's great. But then there's corporate heroism. And heroism sells tickets. For our second story, Cruz, the self-driving robotaxy pine. Pioneer just had its worst month ever. Not because it's Robotaxie made a mistake, but because they tried to cover it up.

Yeties, Jack and I have told you before in this pod, if you're a big company, if you can't beat them, buy them. In 2016, that's what General Motors did. They wanted in on self-driving cars, but they were based in Detroit. That wasn't really a their thing, right, Jack? So they bought a majority of a tech company based in San Francisco for a billion dollars. And that tech company was called Cruise. Cruise Robo Taxes.

By 2021, GM's investment had grown by 15X in value. Cruise Robotaxis had become one of the most valuable startups in America. It was worth $30 billion. Because Cruz has Robotaxies today that are Chevy Bolt cars, and they've been driving around paid customers in San Francisco all year long. Honestly, it's like really thrilling. Like when I look at my window, every morning Jack, there's like, They're all over San Francisco and nobody's in the front seat.

It never gets old. You know, you kind of want to wave them. It's like they're ghost riding. I've taken two of them, by the way. One was a good experience. It was not as good an experience. But Yeti's one single accident may have ended all that for this $30 billion cruise robotaxy company. Besties, let's go back to October 2nd.

That's when a woman was hit by a human driver in a normal car. According to reports, the woman stepped off the sidewalk and was hit by a car. which was driven by a human. That human driver sped off, and that person is a criminal for fleeing the scene of the crime. But the story didn't end there. The woman ended up getting thrown into the path of one of these cruise self-driving cars, which fortunately stopped. So it was a horrible hit-and-run accident.

It was tragic, but then the self-driving car made it worse. After initially stopping, the car got confused because it was in the middle of the road and it thought it should get out of the way. Okay, so that's when this robo-taxie makes mistakes. It starts pulling over and then it starts dragging the poor woman 20 more feet underneath the self-driving car. Now, this woman is still alive, but she's in a hospital too. So add it all up and the human driver of the first car is who's at fault.

But the self-driving car made her injuries worse. Naturally, this was a bad headline for the self-driving car company, but it actually got worse with every passing day as more and more information leaked out. Yeah, which is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at Cruz? It's not about the mistake. It's about how you handle it. So yet he's after this accident, Cruz shared the video footage with authorities, but only part of it.

They showed video of the car initially stopping in front of the woman, but it didn't show video of the car dragging her. So now this week, now that the whole story is out and it looks like Cruz covered up the truth, now Cruise is in trouble. When regulators realized Cruz was holding back the second half of that video, they suspended their permit to self-driving the state. And then General Motors just paused production and more robotaxies. And now Cruz had to recall all 950 robotaxis to come back into the shop. Yeties, even if a self-driving car, which is, by the way, an incredible, amazing to see technology, even if it is 99% safer than human drivers, a mistake was bound to happen.

Nick, this is a brutal but powerful statistic. 35,000 people in America die every year because of car accidents. Self-driving cars are bound to reduce that number someday. Honestly, I'll probably still continue taking a self-driving car because they're still available and it's an exciting technology with amazing potential. It's a shame that Cruz didn't just show the whole video at the beginning and be straight up about this. So yeties, the way we see it, Cruz didn't get in trouble for the mistake.

Cruz got in trouble for how it handled this. For our third and final story before the weekend, Goop, Gwyneth, Haltrow's lifestyle brand is entering, get this, Target. It's a huge risk for Gwyneth. We'll tell you why in our takeaway. Full disclosure, this is Nick and just got to Santa Barbara. Jack. I know, you told this at the beginning of the show.

You already told us, Nick. Oprah's asking for a nice tea, Jack. The only thing more beautiful than the people here is the landscaping. What does that even mean? I just saw a very pretty agave tree. That is romantic. I won't lie. Agave plants are incredible.

It was stunning. But yet he's Santa Barbara. It is also the home of Gwyneth Paltrow. The Oscar-winning actress from Shakespeare and Left. He's also the founder of Goup, Goup, which started out originally as a blog. If you wanted to treat yourself and your boo to a spa getaway weekend and you had no budget, Gwyneth would tell you where to go. She evolved it from content to commerce and Goup's last valuation was at $250 million.

Today, it's a wellness company. They sell beauty products and it's definitely a lifestyle brand. They're going to detox your face. while you both talks your wallet. Yeah, check out goop.com. You'll find an $800 candle sprinkled with moon dust. And you're going to find a $1,000 Pilates retreat taught by a vegan pistachia.

Open up the holiday gift guide right now. We dare you. Oh, we jumped in T-Boy's style. Oh, this was wild. You're going to find a $2,000 air maze dog house? Jack, I just walked over to the Goop store because it's in Montecito right over here. They're selling $15,000 gold vibrators.

But Gwyneth deserves a lot of credit. She's taken business risks. She's tested new revenue streams. She's put herself out there. For example, Goop has launched a TV show on Netflix. And a cruise line with Celebrity Cruises. And a guest house by Goop on Airbnb. Right in Nick's backyard right now in Santa Barbara.

But yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The latest move from Goop is their most dramatic departure. Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is entering Target. And that could be their greatest risk ever. Goop's new line of skincare is for sale at Target and on Amazon, and every product is under $40. So they've basically gone from selling $5,000 cashmere bidet is like a $15 skin cream. Now, here's the reason why. 64% of Goop sales are actually skincare products, so it's expanding that top product line for the mainstream masses.

And interestingly, they're still going to sell it basically under the same brand, right? Check. Apparently, there's fewer active ingredients, which justifies the lower price point. This new brand is called Good Clean Goop. So Yeties, here's the huge risk. Will classic Goop customers still see the brand as an exclusive indulgence? Yeah, can a Goop customer justify paying $1,000 for an ayahuasca face mask when the same brand is selling $8 lip bombs at Target? Over at aisle 6, Jack and I want to know.

So, Jack, can you please consciously uncouple the takeaway for our buddies over at Goop? This will be the most extreme test of aspiration versus accessibility. That is. On the spectrum of a brand, on one extreme is aspiration. And on the other extreme is accessibility. Open up a thesaurus. Those two words are opposite of each other. But Goop is trying to be both at the same time. Aspirational brands are mysterious, a little inaccessible, ahead of you, but you want to get there. Accessible brands, on the other hand, are relatable, familiar, and they meet you where you are right now. Now, Tesla, they've kind of been able to do this. They've gone from aspirational to accessible with a cheaper car, but still sell a $100,000

version. Ralph Lauren's done it too. You can find a $25 polo shirt at TJ Max. They're still selling $10,000 tuxes at their Fifth Avenue store. So, Goop, they're trying to stretch the brand across the entire spectrum in like the most extreme way we've ever seen. They're trying to be aspirational for Santa Barbara, but also accessible for Minneapolis. Can they pull it off?

We'll check back in in the next target earnings report. Jack, can you and that lovely tan whip up the takeaways for us over there? Netflix rescued the historic Egyptian theater in Hollywood. There's corporate philanthropy, and then there's corporate heroism. For our second story, Cruz has made huge progress with self-driving cars, but one accident in San Francisco has turned into a crisis. It's not that they made the mistake. It's how they handled the mistake.

For our third and final story, it's Goop. Goop is going mainstream, the low-price skincare line for sale at Target and Amazon. It's the ultimate risk of a brand, stretching from aspiration to accessible. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Bitcoin just hit $37,000. The price of a Bitcoin named Ben has more than doubled this year. It's all thanks to eager anticipation for a Bitcoin ETF, which has a Bitcoin ETF, which has

been improved yet. And second, United Airlines just followed Delta Airlines by updating their loyalty program for frequent flyers. Like Delta, they're going to reward you less. That's all you need to know. That's how it always is when they update their frequent flyer policies. And finally, three giant pandas safely arrived back in China after their 19-hour flight from Washington, D.C. Because China is taken back their pandas. It's the end of panda diplomacy. There are still a couple pandas we have in Atlanta, but China could take them back anytime, right, Jack? They're actually, they're going to be gone soon, too. Also, kind of awkward timing, right, man? No, this is good news. China's President Xi is getting together in person with President Biden in San

Francisco next week. Wouldn't hurt if he brought a couple pandas. We're just saying what everyone's thinking yet is. We're just saying it. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Eric Bjorn over in Draper, Utah. Push and play. Greetings Yetis. As Veterans Day approaches this Saturday, have you ever wondered how it's different from Memorial Day? While Memorial Day commemorates fallen soldiers, Veterans Day celebrates all veterans who've served in our armed forces. It was originally established in 1938 as a day to honor World War I Veterans, and it was originally named Armistice Day. Veterans Day is also officially recognized in Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, but is referred to as Remembrance Day. So, wherever you are this Saturday, reach out to a veteran and express your heartfelt gratitude

for their valiant service. This one goes out to my buddy Scott, flying jets over there in the United States Air Force. Eric, Scott, all the veterans. Thank you so much for your service. Amazing number of veteran besties out there. Thanks always. We are so lucky as Americans to have so many people who volunteer to serve in the military. And you're doing it right now, too.

Thanks so much. Yeties, you have looked fantastic all week. Jack, it was amazing being with you over in Beverly Hills. By the way, a lot of wins to celebrate, man. We have an announcement coming next week, which I'm very excited about. On Monday's episode, you'll hear something for us. Jack and I have been working on some stuff. We've got two really cool things coming out this month for you.

In the meantime, have a fantastic weekend. Make sure to follow the show. And Nick and I will see you Monday. I got to go make Oprah and I's tea, Jack. Yeties celebrate the wins. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Winifred Lester, who's turned to you. turning 100 years old in Ventura, California.

He's celebrating with his children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren. And May and Joseph in the Bay Area, happy birthday to both you, because May is the mom and Joseph is her son with the same birthday. And happy birthday to Parag Patei, who just got back from India to celebrate his birthday with his wife. And a happy birthday to Barbaros Oz Turk in Vancouver, Canada, who's prepping some ads for Black Friday. Happy birthday to Fabian Gularde, who's celebrating his 40th birthday in Palm Springs. And Pedro Cabrera is turning 50 years old down in Texas.

Happy birthday to Sanjana Kana, who's turned in 29 plus one in Chandler, Arizona. And Nate and Nora just got engaged where it all began in Madison, Wisconsin. Send us some picks of the ring, guys. And happy anniversary to Gio and Mithra in Kent, Ohio. And Angela and Matthew Fonte are celebrating their first year of marriage down in Florida with a fantastic dinner. Big shout out to Kelsey Black, one of the best besties,

who's hosting some famous authors at her bookstore in Austin. And a good luck and congratulations to Nishi on their first long-distance road trip with puppy mango from Atlanta all the way to Phoenix. And happy birthday to Samson, the baby of Bozeman,

and the son of Lacey and Taylor, who finally fits into that T-boy onesie. Samson, you're looking fantastic. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Amazon.

And Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb. And Nick and I both own one Bitcoin whose name is Ben. Great, great, great, great, great, great. Great work. Great work. You did what I need you do on that joke. You said what you were supposed to say. I thought so.

I was like, something tells me I said the wrong consonant here.