The Best One Yet - 🧸 “Hand-Me-Downs” — Toy Story 5’s generationalism. SpaceX’s ATM Meme. Ben & Jerry’s Interview. +Boston’s Outta Beer

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, June 18th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, yaddies, we got a special sweet treat coming for you in tomorrow's pod. We'll get to that in a minute, Nick. But in the meantime, Jack, we've got three fantastic stories for the most interesting show and business. What are we got on today's pod? For our first story, Toy Story 5 debuts this weekend, and it explains the entire movie industry right now. Because the best way to understand, Understand Hollywood is that it's obsessed with hand-me-downs. For our second story, SpaceX has turned into Elon Musk's $2 trillion ATM. And ATM. His next move, sell SpaceX to buy Tesla.

Starting point is 00:00:43 And our third and final story, we just interviewed Ben, as in Ben of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. That Ben, the full interview publishes tomorrow on how they started, how Ben can't smell, the craziest acquisition of all time, and why now he's trying to buy it all back. And today we're giving you a five-minute taste in that episode. But yet, it is before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a mix of stories that send you off to Italy. Love the mix, Jack. For the first time in history, you can't get drunk in Boston tonight.

Starting point is 00:01:12 Because Besties, Boston has run out of beer. Emergency edition of Hortar's Almanac Week 325. Oh, we repeat, Boston is at a bruise. True story. According to the NBC local Boston affiliate, Boston bars did four times as much beer sales last weekend as a normal weekend. Get this, one bar just did three times as much as St. Paddy's Day just on Sunday night. The kegs are kicked, the Guinness is gone.

Starting point is 00:01:39 Sammy Adams, nowhere to be seen. The culprit, by the way, not the barstool bros of Beantown. No, no, no, no, no, no, it's actually the Scottish soccer hooligans. Sip it up all that with bruskies. Because Scotland is in the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. And it appears the entire population of Scotland is here to watch. and to imbibe. All of Scotland's group matches are down in Gillette Stadium.

Starting point is 00:02:02 Just outside, but actually pretty far outside Boston. Jolette Stadium's like an hour. And you're going to hit traffic, so leave now. So all the ancestors of Sean Connery have made their pilgrimage to Bean Town. Yeah, and after Team Scotland beat Team Haiti, they hit the bars like Braveheart. On the home front, by the way, Scotland declared the day after the opening match a bank holiday so that people could sleep in afterwards. But in Boston, the Scots ain't sleeping in. They're drinking out.

Starting point is 00:02:26 Forget the Boston Tea Party. This is the Boston beer party. Literally. Although we're shocked, Massachusetts doesn't have a strategic ale reserve, right, Jack? But don't worry, Boston. Reinforcements are coming. One if by land, two if by sea. Let's hit our three stories, Nick.

Starting point is 00:02:41 Hey, Dahlin, toss some baileys in my Dunkin' Coulot. Two pumps a hazel nut. 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 a norm. Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip

Starting point is 00:03:04 T-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 Toy Story 5 hits theaters tomorrow night At a critical moment

Starting point is 00:03:32 Because the best way to understand Hollywood right now is to think of movies as hand-me-downs. Oh, yeah, and he's gathered around the campfire. Because like any good tale, Jack, let's start with the origin story. The origin story of Pixar is so good. It needs its own Hollywood movie. Let's create a prediction market. I predict there will be a Hollywood movie about the birth of Pixar before 2030.

Starting point is 00:03:56 And we're going to be the guys to write it because Jack read the book, Creativity, Inc. Is that your favorite business book, I got to say? My favorite business book, I actually put a link in the episode of description in case you want to learn more. All right, Jack, sprinkle on the T-Boy historical context like your Andy, please. Pixar was the first computer animated studio, and it was founded, shockingly, by George Lucas. Yeah, Star Wars George Lucas.

Starting point is 00:04:19 He used it for some special effects, but when George Lucas got divorced, he needed money for his divorce settlement, so he sold Pixar. That's wild, but even wilder, Jack, who did George Lucas sell Pixar to? Steve Jobs, who had done? just been fired from Apple. George is getting divorced. Steve is getting fired and an animation studio

Starting point is 00:04:40 is getting adopted. Wow, there's your plot twist, besties. But that's not the end of the story, Nick. It was Steve Jobs who oversaw the creation of Pixar's first Hollywood movie, Toy Story. Okay, but then Steve wasn't getting a steady Apple paycheck like he used to, so he IPOed Pixar before Toy Story premieres. Which was a genius move, because in 1995 when Toy Story premieres, One year after the Lion King, by the way, it represented a gigantic technological leap in movie making. And 11 years later, after finding Nemo the Incredibles and car, Steve Jobs sells Pixar to Disney in 2006. And in the year of 2006, Steve Jobs is Apple's CEO again. And he needs to focus on a new project he's been working on.

Starting point is 00:05:21 It's the, you know, a little computer that could fit in your pocket kind of a thing. Yeah, let's call it a hardware mobile device that takes the iPod to the next level. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but I only be distracted by Pixar in the meantime. Now, since that 1995 premiere, the Toy Story franchise has generated $16 billion in revenue. To infinity, the numbers, Jack, to infinity and beyond. But Bestie's Toy Story 5 is next. It premieres tomorrow, and there's a lot riding on this one. While they're expecting a better opening weekend than the booboo dolls, Nick.

Starting point is 00:05:56 $175 million domestically, but what's the plot, Jack? The plot is that the toys battle with another Steve Jobs creation, the iPad, for Bonnie's attention. The existential question, does watching this movie count toward your kids one hour a day of screen time? Parents grappling with that one all weekend, Jack. Now, prediction markets give Toy Story 5 a 24% chance of being the number one box office movie of 2026, trailing only Spider-Man. Yeah, Mr. Potato Head, he's got his money on this one, Jack. And this will be the 13th Spider-Man, Nick, since Toby McGuire's first version in 2002.

Starting point is 00:06:30 face to beat fast in the Furious pretty soon, not too shabby. Although Toy Story 5 does have the Swifties on their side. Because Taylor Swift does the original song for the Toy Story 5 soundtrack. Inspired by Cowgirl Jesse, that's right, Pixar has entered its collab era. Your move, Uncle Ben. Your move. So the big money believes that Blue Chip Hollywood IP, Spider-Man and Toy Story, will be number one and number two at the box office this year. And the 2026 box office is looking really good. It's only 3.5% behind the record setting box office of 2019. These are looking like pre-pandemic numbers, Nick. Siskel's giving them two thumbs up. Oh, how about IMAX? By the way, Jack. They just announced record pre-orders for the Odyssey tickets. IMAX stock is at an all-time

Starting point is 00:07:15 high too. We can't even get them for opening weekend. Jack and I tried to get Zeus to throw a lightning bolt down if you want to see that movie. So think of Hollywood right now as having a puberty moment. I like where you're saying, Jack. It feels as hopeful as ever. It's about to go into high school, but it's also feeling as insecure as ever. A little bit of acne on those numbers because we just listened to a New York Times movie critic who made a very interesting statement about the state of Hollywood. This is what we find fascinating about Toy Story 5. Think of the movie industry right now like your big brother's childhood pants.

Starting point is 00:07:49 So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Toy Story? Gen Z doesn't want their parents hand-me-downs. Yet he's dating back to the 1970s. Movigers have had generational films capture their collective imaginations. This is going to be fun. Can we go through the list? 1970s, you had Jaws, Star Wars, and the Godfather. Jack, 90s, we had Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, and Titanic. And in 2000s, we had Harry Potter and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Starting point is 00:08:15 And those fast and the Furiouses. But since the 20 teens, under financial pressure from streaming, Hollywood stopped creating and started iterating. And in the 2020s, Gen Z has finally started to say no. year old Tammy saying, I'm not paying 20 bucks to go to a theater and watch worn out IP I don't connect with. She had franchise fatigue. But this year, we learned that there is something that will pull Gen Z out of their couch and into the movie theater. We just did a story on it. The YouTube first movies that are crushing it this year. Backrooms and obsession. Oh, and the most talked about

Starting point is 00:08:46 film at the Tribeca Film Fest going on right now? Dreams of Violence, which is made by AI. So Toy Story and Spider-Man will be number one and number two this year, but the studios behind them aren't feeling confident. No, they're not. Because Gen Z is telling them loud and clear. We want something new made for us, not something that belongs to another generation. We don't want hand-me-down IP from our parents. For our second story, SpaceX is now officially a meme stock, the first mega meme stock to the moon. So what's Elon doing with his incredibly overvalued SpaceX stock? What's he doing, Jack? He's selling it, Nick. True story. He's selling it. Jack, we're almost one week from the record-setting SpaceX IPO.

Starting point is 00:09:29 How much money did SpaceX raise as of now? $86 billion when it was all said and done. Oh, and since Friday's initial public offering, the stock in SpaceX has jumped 50% higher. And it's all thanks to retail investors. Moms and pops, bros and doze. A seven-year-old Yeti actually emailed us that he bought SpaceX stock with his allowance money.

Starting point is 00:09:48 Okay, I love how early this kid is getting skin in the game. Oh, I should point out, it was actually earned money. he did it by doing his chores. It's sweat equity, Nick. But get this besties. On Monday, 74% of all single stock purchases on the market from retail traders was SpaceX. Seventy-four percent. And since the IPO on Friday, retail investors have bought more SpaceX than all other stocks combined. It's like Wall Street's a big buffet, but everyone's just loading their plates with the same space meatloaf. SpaceX stock is the new Labradoodle. Everyone is getting one.

Starting point is 00:10:25 And none of them are adopted. These are designer laboratory. It's very expensive. Now, Wall Street buying on the IPO day made Elon a trillionaire, but retail investors are trying to make them a two trillionaire. Because Elon is the Oracle to traders on X and Reddit, trying to get rich by boarding the Elon trade. But with just 4% of SpaceX's shares available to buy and sell in the market right now,

Starting point is 00:10:47 the buys are simply overwhelming the sales. One sec, Jack, pause the pot to whip out the whiteboard. got a low number of shares, plus insane retail demand, plus an underlying stock whose profits and financials don't really matter? That is the recipe of a meme stock. It is. It's a meme. SpaceX has become one. But this is the first mega meme stock worth $2 trillion. You see, with only buyers and no sellers, SpaceX is now worth more than Amazon. But we'll see how the stock does in three months when insiders are finally allowed to sell after their first earnings report. But Jack, that brings us to the pinata moment. Elon is celebrating and he's whacking something. What exactly is he

Starting point is 00:11:26 whacking right now? The sell button? Is that what you're getting at Nick? That's what I'm getting that, Jack, because with SpaceX trading at 200 bucks a share, the first thing Elon's done is sell baby sell, smash that pinata sell. On Tuesday, he sold 300 million shares because he announced he was buying cursor, a leading AI company specializing and coding. And how did he pay for this leading AI company, Jack? Entirely by issuing brand new SpaceX stock. Basically, here's 300 million SpaceX shares worth $60 billion. Boom, your company is now my company, Ipsophacto. And next up, he's going to buy an even bigger company. He's probably going to merge Tesla with SpaceX, forming the first ever Elon Glamorite. Get this on Friday last week, SpaceX's president implied that Elon planned to merge his two

Starting point is 00:12:10 top companies. And Elon recently said that he thinks SpaceX would be doing a trillion dollars of revenue by the end of the year. What's the only way that that could possibly happen, Nick? Jack, it would be if Tesla's revenue is part of SpaceX's. We're talking about an Elon Glamarate. They sell electric cars, rockets, robots, solar panels, satellites, and orbital data centers. Oh, and Grock, and probably a lightsaber one day. By the end of the year, we bet Tesla and SpaceX will be one company. Call it Spasla, Tasex, new names, TBD, but it will definitely have an X in there.

Starting point is 00:12:42 So we'll get self-flying cars or self-driving rockets. True. Either way, both will have cup holders. So, Jack, what's the day? take away for our buddies over at SpaceX. The stock market is like an ATM, but for Elon, it's open 24-7 with no limit. Yet his Elon has a vision. He motivates his workers, he hires top talent, and he tweets all about it. But his true superpower is convincing people to buy stock. You see, in the 2010s, Tesla sold $20 billion of new stock on the stock market to fund Tesla's

Starting point is 00:13:14 pre-profit era. Any other car company would have gone bankrupt, but Elon never ran out of money because he just sold new stock. And since 2023, with X and Tesla struggling, Elon pivoted to AI and sold $45 billion of XAI stock. And then, finally, in 2026, last week, the biggest stock sale in history. Sorry, in the galaxy. The size of a planet, Jack. In just three business days, from Friday to Tuesday, Elon Musk sold $146 billion of SpaceX stock.

Starting point is 00:13:43 To raise a lot of money, Basties, whether publicly traded or private, Elon can sell stock of any company he's CEO of to get cash fast. Don't call J.G. Wentworth for cash now. Call Elon Musk. That unlimited source of funding, it is Elon's most durable, competitive advantage. And that's why the biggest takeaway so far from the SpaceX IPO is that the stock market is Elon's ATM.

Starting point is 00:14:05 Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, it's Ben Cohen. Yeah, that Ben of Ben and Jerry's. He's on a campaign to buy back his namesake ice cream brand from its corporate overlords. We spoke to him in the most fun 50-minute interview we have ever done. It is amazing. So here is a preview of that full episode which drops tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:14:31 Consider it a sweet treat. Push and play. Should an entrepreneur, should an employee take a side on something publicly? I think so. I think businesses are members of the community. And they need to be responsible members of the community, responsible to the community, responsible for values other than maximizing their short-term profits and whatever fallout falls out.

Starting point is 00:15:02 The reality is that business is incredibly political. Business controls our elections through campaign contributions. Business controls our legislation through lobbying. They control our media through ownership. They control the lives of everyday lives as employees and customers. So the norm is for businesses to take their stands covertly. They don't want people to know that they are the people that are funding these politicians to do their bidding. They don't want people to know that weapons manufacturers have two lobbyists for every,

Starting point is 00:15:46 every congressperson. I mean, the place is crawling with lobbyists that are paid for by business, that are trying to influence the laws of our country in their own favor. So if you say, well, business shouldn't be taking political stands. I mean, they're taking political stands every day of the year. But the difference is they're covert about it. They don't want to be open. They want to hide it. And because they're taking all those stands just only in their narrow self-interest. So Ben and Jerry's takes their stands overtly in the interest of the community in general. And, you know, I think there's also this issue of being tarred and feathered with the same brush. You know, the spokespeople for business is the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of

Starting point is 00:16:40 manufacturers, all these business packs, whatever. And if you don't stand up and say, no, I don't agree with that stuff, as you said before, I think he who is silent consents, you know, if you don't make your views known, then you're just accepting what's going on. And what do you think then, Ben, though, of the customer challenge? Like if you're a brand that does get political and speaks out openly like you're saying, what do you say to your fans who love your product, but may be upset or offended by a side that you're taking on something and have to live with that challenge. Well, you just say, this is honest.

Starting point is 00:17:22 This is what I believe in. They're based on a set of values. And for a lot of people, I mean, most people are buying products from companies in spite of the values. They just don't realize. You know, customers certainly have a choice. I mean, a lot of times, you know, people don't really care that much. Have you ever encountered a customer that says, man, I freaking love white supremacy,

Starting point is 00:17:50 but I also love half-paked and I don't know what to do. You know, the interesting thing is that customers that love white supremacy, they usually don't come up to me. Now, Bessie's Nick and Jack back in the T-Boy studio here. Ben goes on to tell us how he's trying to buy back Ben and John. Jerry's right now. And he tells us what Ben and Jerry's 2.0 would look like if he succeeds. As well as the first thing he would launch. Spoiler, not broccoli. It's our best interview yet, so tune in for tomorrow's pod. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday.

Starting point is 00:18:26 Toy Story 5 hits theaters this weekend. It's going to do great, but probably not with Gen Z. Yeah, because they're telling Hollywood studios, uh, we do not want our parents hand-me-downs. No thank you to the pants. For our second story, SpaceX issued $60 billion of new stock. on Tuesday to acquire cursor. Next up, probably acquiring Tesla. Because Elon's biggest competitive advantage, for him, the stock market is an unlimited ATM. And our third and final story is Ben Cohen. He's trying to buy back Ben and Jerry's because he wants the muzzle of his brand taken off. The untold story of his favorite flair, the greatest acquisition double dip of all time. Oh, and whether your favorite branch should get political or not, all that on tomorrow's D-Boy.

Starting point is 00:19:04 And Nick made him laugh, I think more than any interviewer has made Ben Cohen laugh. The only time I almost hugged our guest, Jack. Almost hugged him in the middle of the interview. Absolutely hilarious. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Allbirds, the Wool Shoe Company, is now an AI company. You knew that because we told you on the pod.

Starting point is 00:19:24 But they also just got a new name for the business. They changed their name from Allbirds to Smart Birds. Smart Birds. They sold off the sneaker business already, and now they're just focusing on AI infrastructure, and they're doubling down. Allbirds, I mean Smart Birds is CEO, just confirmed it. No one's going to remember the shoes, she said, as the stock jumped 15%.

Starting point is 00:19:43 And second, two huge open questions as we enter the holiday weekend. First, what's in the text of the Iran-USA deal? Reporting is that Iran will open the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for funds getting unfrozen and sanctions getting lifted. But the other question, how long will America block Anthropics' latest AI model and why? Those two questions are fundamental to U.S. energy markets and the U.S. AI industry. And finally, new study from Consumer Reports, It robert's the surveillance pricing that, uh, Jack and I've been warning you about. Uber and Lyft charge different prices for the same exact ride. Oh, baby. The prices range a whopping 50% sometimes. Jack, we've got to add this to the old surveillance pricing burn book. If you

Starting point is 00:20:23 see pricing, say pricing. Now time for the best fact. Yeah, this one whipped up by Jack and I for tomorrow's national holiday. The first piece of Juneteenth's specific real estate was a crowdfunded park in Texas. 1872, four formerly enslaved men named Richard Allen, Richard Brock, Jack Yates, and Elias Dibble pooled their money to buy a 10-acre plot in Houston for $800. Specifically, this plot was for the community to have a place to celebrate Juneteenth, since they were barred from the city's other parks. They were literally not allowed to celebrate anywhere else, so they just did it themselves, bought their own land. That $800 acquisition from four separate men is today, Houston's Emancipation Park, a crowdfunded physical manifestation of the Juneteenth holiday.

Starting point is 00:21:11 Yiddies, you are looking fantastic today. Jack, bellissimo. Don't we on Dario, let's get to that airplane. Guys, I'm going straight from the studio to the Montreal airport to fly directly to Naples. First time in Italy, I'm just going to be olive oil, wine, pasta, Bessie, maybe some octopus, You can't see Jack right now, but he's a napkin tucked into his shirt, actually, because he's already worried about the marinari. Now, Nick, studied abroad in Italy. What do I say, Nick?

Starting point is 00:21:42 Grazie. It's gratia. It's Bolognaise. Yeah. In Italian, you got to own the vowels. The vowels at the end specifically, right? Nope, just every vowel, Jack. It's just every vowel.

Starting point is 00:21:52 Yeah, it is. We hope you enjoy the Ben and Jerry interview tomorrow, and have a phenomenal weekend. Nick and I'll be back with you on Monday. If you know, you know, say sapere. Sepere. It's not if you know, you know. in Italian. Before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Eddie, Ethan Ramirez, turning seven down in Tampa.

Starting point is 00:22:15 This guy has been investing his chores savings money, and he's been putting it into SpaceX stock. Get this kid a vest, because he's investing. Kevin Dolan and Yonkers is turned in 34.5. We're going to see him in a T-boy starter jacket one day, and Kevin will get your full birthday next year, too. Happy birthday to Laura Stowwater and Kurt Peters both having a birthday in Iowa. And James Mueller's turned 11 on the golf course in Adina, Minnesota. And happy 46th birthday to Rachel Plats in Beaver, Pennsylvania.

Starting point is 00:22:40 And Jade Fiffner is going on vacate in Alaska for the first time in Joy, Jade. Congratulations to Anthony Whitlow and Troy New York, getting ordained as a licensed minister in the gospel of the Seven Day Adventist Church. And John Robinson and Susan Lorenger, a couple that T-boys together, are celebrating their 10th epic anniversary down in Hertford, North Carolina. Happy first Father's Day to Gic Fiestens. And Jonathan Blaha also celebrating the best Father's Day yet. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy.

Starting point is 00:23:09 To all the Padres, celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney, Amazon, Reddit, and Lyft. Nick and I both own stock of Apple, and I own one share of SpaceX. And Nick owns a bunch of shares, I think. That's funny.

The Best One Yet - 🧸 “Hand-Me-Downs” — Toy Story 5’s generationalism. SpaceX’s ATM Meme. Ben & Jerry’s Interview. +Boston’s Outta Beer

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.