The Best One Yet - 🎢 “Harry Potter Galaxy” — Universal’s gas station theme park. Uber’s Expedia rumor. “Click-to-Cancel” subscription rule.

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Universal Studios is opening “Epic Universes”… Its 5th theme park in Orlando, thanks to gas stations.Uber is reportedly trying to acquire Expedia… To create the ultimate travel app. The FTC just finalized a Click-to-Cancel rule… It must be as easy to cancel as it was to subscribe.Plus, can Zuck fire you for expensing deodorant?... Yes.$UBER $EXPE $METASubscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday the real Friday, October 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. Now, Jack, I don't want to break the Hippocratic oath. But didn't you have a really important doctor's appointment this morning? Yeah, we went to Alex's 20-week ultrasound appointment. Do you know the gender yet? You're going to know the gender. We're not going to find out until the baby's born. There we go. In the meantime, it's looking healthy. It's looking fantastic. Dude, we don't know it's gender, but we do know its favorite yoga pose. It was in Downward Dog that whole time. I can only imagine. Jack, three stories for today's T-boy of a show. What do we got on the pod?

For our first story, Universal Studios is launching its biggest theme park ever in Orlando, where it already has a theme park. Because theme parks use the same strategy as your local gas station. For our second story, it's Uber. Uber is reportedly trying to acquire Expedia to create. create the ultimate travel app. The way Jack and I see it, Uber's strategy reminds us of a powerful African proverb. And our third and final story.

The FTC just finalized a brilliant new rule. It's called Click to Cancel. Click to cancel. Companies must make it as easy to cancel as it is to subscribe. Or else. But yet is, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories. Or else.

Okay, sorry. I misread that. I misread that. Yeti's, over the last two years, Meta has cut 21,000 jobs. But this week, we saw the wildest job cut yet. Because get this, Yetis, Meta just fired two dozen people in Los Angeles for over-expensing. We repeat, Zuck fired 24 people for abusing a company perk.

Jack, can you sprinkle on some more context, please? Meta is actually famous for extremely generous work perks. Zuck knows it could be tough to say that you work at Meta, So perks make life easier like unlimited kombucha laundry. I'm pretty sure your pet gets health insurance if you work at META. Well, especially your gut, Jack, because every office of META has free breakfast, free lunch, and free dinner. And if you work remotely, you can expense $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner. It's a job that comes with three square meals a day.

Your mom would be proud. And if you're a remote worker, you redeem those meal vouchers through the delivery apps. $20 pad tie, I'll get it on DoorDash paid for by $1. Zuck. That's a right off. That's a right off. Expense it. But yet he's down in lovely L.A. Some employees added some extras to their DoorDash order. You ordered tacos and some toothpaste. You ordered dumplings and some deodorant. You ordered a hamburger and some hair gel. Zuck didn't like it. No, he didn't. So he fired 24 employees to make an example to the company. Apparently, if you're rounded up on your free meal, then you are out at Meta. Honestly,

I feel bad for these guys because we've been there. I mean, Jack, who hasn't rounded up on an expense report or two? Yeah, I'll take a toothpaste, throw it in with the pad tied. Also, if you make your own ramen noodles, shouldn't you be able to spend that 20 bucks on something you need to buy? I mean, Jack, if you're one of these employees, I thought it wasn't illegal if you do it in the Metaverse. True. They should have said it wasn't me.

It was my avatar. My legless avatar. Jack, let's hit our three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. idea to cause 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 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, on May 22nd, Universal Studios is opening a brand new theme park in Orlando. Why is every theme park in the same city? They're all in Orlando. For the answer, we look to the gas station. We look to the gas station. All right, Jack, I don't have my Nickelodeon voice on me right now, but picture this.

Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida. That's the announcement of the prize for whatever lucky kid won Legends of the Hidden Temple. Yeah, I feel like Olmec was always given away like six-day trips for your whole family to the Universal Studios. That's how I learned about Universal Studios was in Orlando, Florida. Well, 30 years after Jack and I learned that, Universal is now owned by Comcast, which happens to have had a theme park in Orlando, Florida, since 1990. Pretty much all of Universal's best movie IP lives there. There's a Jurassic Park ride, a Harry Potter ride, a Minions ride.

Copyright lawyers, they love Orlando. True story. And in the year since, Universal has added three additional theme parks also in Orlando. Which got Jack and I curious, because yesterday, Universal announced the opening date for their newest park number five, and it's in Orlando. And it's not just in Orlando. It's massive. Universal is calling their fifth Orlando theme park, their most ambitious park they've ever created. So yet he's Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to this new theme park called Epic Universes, which opens on May 22nd, 2025. And again,

this is Universal's fifth park in Orlando, and it's going to have five universes in that park. Literally. Jack, could you whip up the universe's for us, please? Give us a little tour. The first universe is called The Ministry of Magic, because Potter Corps runs deep. Apparently, the creative team, though, is running out of juice because this is their third Harry Potter world in Orlando, Jack. Pretty wild. The other existing parks also have, like, Dagon Alley and Hogwarts Castle. How Much Butter Beer Can You Drink? But the second universe is the How to Train Your Dragons universe, which is also based on a universal movie. dragons there to make DeNaris jealous. Now, the third universe is Super Nintendo World with, get this, an actual Mario Kart race course. Although Mario and Luigi already exist at Universal Hollywood and Universal

Japan. Good point, Jack, good point. The fourth universe is based on scary movies and the fifth universe is space themed. So Jack and I are looking at the map here, Yetis, and Universal's new epic universe, it is a lot of universes in one tiny space. Why are they building another theme park or Orlando. I would love a Universal Studios in New England. Colorado's pretty centrally located. They'd love a Universal Studios. Jack, I feel like a Universal New Orleans would be fun for the parents and the kids. What's going on here? Thank you. Well, Jack and I discovered the reason why it's Orlando. And the reason why is economics. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the theme parks? Why are theme parks always next to each other? The same reason as gas stations. It's game theory.

Yeties, in 1971, Disney World opened in Orlando. They decided Orlando was the best place for vacations. Walt Disney chose Orlando, and he had to market to families to travel to Orlando. That was a lot of work for the first mover. Now, if you're Universal, you could choose a different location like Texas, but that differentiation would be costly. If Universal had chosen Texas, then they would have had to tell people go to Texas. would have been an expensive marketing campaign. But instead, Universal chose Orlando, Florida, too.

And so did SeaWorld, and so did Legoland, and so did Bush Gardens. For the same reason Disney did, 1971, it's the best spot. Now, Jack and I have noticed that this is the same reason why gas stations also seem to cluster around the same locations. The first gas station picks the optimal spot, and the rest of the gas stations cluster there too. So Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, they're all in Orlando. like Exxon, Sinocho, and Shell are all at that same intersection right by the highway.

So, Jack, what explains why gas stations cluster and theme parks cluster? This is game theory. For our second story, Uber is considering its biggest deal ever. Uber may acquire Expedia to create the ultimate travel app. And Uber's strategy here reminds us of an African proverb. Yeties, Jack and I were checking our portfolios, and one of the big stock surprises, which we do not own, unfortunately, is Uber. It's up 80% in the past 12 months. It's now a $170 billion company.

Uber stock, it got upgraded to Uber Black. And since Uber is more valuable than ever, Uber can now afford to splurge. Here's the news. Uber visited Expedia in Seattle to reportedly discuss acquiring it. Expedia, the fourth biggest travel booking site where you can book a flight, book a rental car and book a beach club all for spring break in one place. Or like me, you can check to see what flight is best and then go directly to the airline's website and book there. And if you've noticed that VRBO listings are in Expedia results, it's because Expedia owns

VRBO. But now, according to these reports, it's possible that Uber could own all of that. Dara, the CEO of Uber, envisions an Uber super app. Anywhere you want to go or do something in the city, we want to empower it. Those are his words. Yes, they are. Now, Expedia's valuation is just one seventh of Uber's valuation, so Uber could afford to acquire Expedia. And Dara used to be the CEO at Expedia, so...

He would know the company that he'd be acquiring. Hey, Todd, just signed the checks. Yeah, I got this. But yet he's Jack and I noticed a very interesting Uber trend. Uber has transformed from Rule Breaker to Alliancemaker. That's right. Uber's new strategy is to partner with, like, Everyone.

If you've got a business development team, Darrow wants to chat. Hook up. I mean talk. I mean, chat. I mean, he just wants to chat. He just wants to talk to you guys. That is, Nick and I read headlines every day, like too many headlines. And here's just a few of them recently from Uber. Uber acquired Postmates for food delivery. And Uber acquired Drizley for alcohol delivery. Uber recently partnered with Google's Waymo so you can hail a self-driving taxi with the Uber app. And it's also partnered with GM self-driving cab company, Cruise. So you can also hail their self-driving. Taxi with the Uber app. Uber has partnered with Instacart for grocery delivery and Netflix for product placements. Jack, have you seen Nobody Wants this, the new show on Netflix?

No, Alex says it's great. Okay, so I just watched episode one, episode one, episode two. If you notice Yetis, there's an Uber taxi that they call in both those episodes? Those were paid product placements. Adam Brody, he's getting paid by Uber. He looks a lot like you, by the way. I get that a lot. I'll take it as a compliment. Yeties, and when Tesla announced their own Robocab last week, Dar said, we would love partner up. So what Jack and I have noticed here is that Uber is very available. Too available? I didn't say that. No, you're looking great. Basically, Uber's like a speed dater with a quota these days. Choosing love, not hate. Just want to hang out. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Uber?

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Yeties, when Uber was run by its aggressive founder, Travis Kalenik, they went fast. but they went alone. Uber moved fast and broke things. They expanded everywhere without a care. But while Travis moved Uber fast, he did not move Uber far. And Uber, it basically became a corporate villain. So the investors kicked Travis out and hired Dara to be the CEO in 2017. Now, since Dara took over, the Uber brand and the Uber business, they have transformed in a really positive way. Through partnerships, Dara has moved Uber slower, but much further. Jack, could you sprinkle on the wild financial context of that statement?

Today, Uber is worth $170 billion, which is more than double of their value from their 2019 IPO, and more than 34 times the value of lift. That's right, Uber is worth 34 lifts. And all that progress is thanks to Dar is slower, but alliance-oriented strategy, like the African proverb said. If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story before the weekend. The FTC just finalized a new rule to end a devious practice we call Hotel California.

Federal rules now require that canceling be just as easy as signing up. It's called Click to Cancel. Now, you guys, I should let you in on a little secret here, but twice this week, Jack has called me to vent and he was angry. I have never seen you like this, Jack. Because I had to make these really annoying phone calls. So here's the story. I was trying to unsubscribe from satellite radio.

And then I was trying to unsubscribe from a kid's multivitamin thing that just wasn't working out. Sounds like you subscribe to too many things. But hey, we're not judging, Jack. Keep going, baby. Keep going. So I logged into my accounts. I clicked cancel. Yes, I want to cancel.

Yes, I still want to cancel. I'm representative. And then it said, you can cancel. Sure. Just call this phone number. Besties, they wouldn't let Jack cancel unless he, like, passed a series of physical feats to unsubscribe. They made me make a time-consuming phone call where I was in a very bad mood the whole time. This is a devious strategy in business that Jack and I call the Hotel California.

Sure, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. You want to end your gym membership? No problem. First, you just got to wrestle this Cambodian alligator. Is that all right? Yeah, and then sign this contract with wet ink. and ship it by hand to the North Pole where our cancel department is. Just let us know when you survive the alligator. But here's the news, yet it is. Not only is that one strategy, one of the most complained about parts of our economy, it is now illegal.

Because the FTC just finalized a rule originally introduced last year called click to cancel. Click to cancel. Jack, could you sprinkle on the concept for us, please? It's a new rule for all businesses in this country. It has to be just as easy for a customer to cancel as you. made it for them to subscribe. Here's how this breaks down, Yates. If a company requires a phone call for you to sign up, then they can require a phone call

for you to cancel. But if they didn't require a phone call to sign up, then they can't require a phone call to cancel. If it was a text message in order to subscribe, you got to have a text message in order to unsubscribe. As FTC chairwoman, Lena Kahn says, nobody should be stuck paying for a service that they no longer want. Now, the Biden administration is calling this a win in their battle against junk fees, which

has been a big focus. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, however, opposes this rule. They say regulators are trying to micromanage their business. But Yeties, Jack and I, we think all of that is besides the point, because any business practicing the Hotel California strategy is actually making a huge financial mistake. Not just because they were making me angry. Because they made that Cambodian alligator angry, too. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in this economy. You should worry about your detractors just as much as your promoters. Yeah, these companies naturally try to earn love from their customers. Those fans become promoters. They spread love for your company through word of mouth. But Jack and I have noticed that those same companies

often, too often, ignore detractors, the people who are the opposite of promoters. Detractors are people who hate that company, and they tell anyone who will listen to them not to do business with that company. And requiring someone to jump through hoops in order to just to cancel a subscription, that breeds detractors. Best case with that strategy, you win one extra month of revenue because you made it so hard for that customer to cancel. But more likely case, well, that person will eventually leave and then tell five friends how much they hate you so you will lose five potential customers. So, do you want one more month of revenue on that one customer or five potential new customers? Well, we think the math is simple.

The FTC is making click to cancel a requirement, but we think it's common business sense. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Universal Studios already has four theme parks in Orlando, and now their fifth opens in May of next year. Why does Orlando get all the theme parks? Well, it's the same reason that one intersection gets all the gas stations. Game theory.

For our second story, it's Uber. They're reportedly in talks to acquire Expedia, which would create a super app for travel. Yetis, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. And our third and final story was the FTC. They're requiring a rule called Click to Cancel. It's got to be just as easy to cancel as it is to sign up. And you should worry about your detractors just as much as your promoters.

But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Brian Williams is coming back to the newsroom. He is joining election night coverage for Amazon. Amazon Prime Video is giving the ex-NBC news host the mic on November 5th. But here's the big question. Will they have one of those big smart boards that shows all the states and counties that you can touch on and turn different colors, Jack? It's Amazon, so yeah.

Get on that, Jassy. And second, Robin Hood launched its first desktop app, Taylor Made for Aggressive Day. traders. It's like a Bloomberg terminal, but free to use. And the keyboard isn't weird. Now, Robin Hood has long marketed themselves as an investing platform for all. But this latest feature is for the hard course. Yes, it is. The guys, futures trading like soy futures on the Department of Agriculture's latest, like, harvest release. It's a strategic shift. And finally, Netflix just announced it added 5.1 million subscribers last quarter, which is huge growth for such a mature streamer. The reason, their ad-supported tier. It's increased the size of the customer base. The perfect couple,

Emily and Paris, all of that drove engagement top shows last quarter. Squid game season two, that's going to drive engagement the day after Christmas. And then I'll fill in for Adam Brody in season two of Nobody Wants This. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and I because we noticed it was Formula One racing time down in Boogie Town, Austin, Texas. This weekend is the Grand Prix and Austin. And the cars, they're going to go a mind-blowing 230 miles per hour. 230 miles per hour, Jack, could you sprinkle on the shocking context to that huge number? That is so fast that the rubber tires that the cars run on get crazy hot. They get to 212 degrees Fahrenheit on a single car tire. That's like boiling water.

I really hope those pit crews have some like oven mitts on their hands. cook a turkey on one of these tires mid-race. No big deal. Have lunch. Enjoy it, Max. Yiddies, you looked fantastic all week. Jack, I'm sorry you had trouble canceling all of those things and ending those subscriptions, but you know, you made it through. You got through the week. I did make it through. And I didn't have to go to the North Bowl or wrestle an alligator. Cambodian alligator. You got to watch out for the Cambodian alligators, Jack. Yetties, if you are looking for something fun to do this weekend, Jack and I had the perfect thing. And it's our brand new show, the best idea yet.

Episode one on the Happy Mail is available. You have no idea who actually came up with that then. Get this, the Happy Meal was invented by a mom of five from Guatemala. It's a wild story, and we tell it on the best idea yet. So we left a link in the episode description for you to listen. In the meantime, celebrate the wins this weekend. Jack, I had a fantastic time with you. Can't wait to see a Monday yet.

And before we go, a shout out to a couple legendary Yetis, Caroline and Miranda, two besties who stopped by Times Square to see the billboard of our new show the best idea yet. They took a selfie. I saw the selfie. It was beautiful. Thanks for stopping by you too. Thanks, Carolina Miranda. Miranda. And a big thank you to Dan Burr,

who sent just some really kind words about my gut health. I told you about the GI issues I've been having. You're working through it. It's the pasta. And Ariel Nissen Blah. Thank you for the shout-out as a top daily podcast. Fantastic to have you as a Yeti. Happy anniversary to Kari and Brandi Carson

in Toledo, Ohio, celebrating 23 years together in the Maldives. Not too shabby. And Parker and Jacqueline Spock down in New Hartford, Connecticut are getting married this weekend with the best wedding yet. And they look fantastic. A huge happy birthday to Cameron Cole, who's turning 11 in Destin, Florida. And love singing the new TBIY jingle, Jack, the best idea yet. It's a good jingle. Same group, Blacklack, great rappers. Glad you love it, Cameron. And happy birthday to Dame Ann Rodriguez of Beaverton, Oregon, who's the marketing director for Nike's Jordan brand. Damien, have we got a cool episode coming out for you in a couple months? And if you want a shout-out or you got a best fact yet, you want to get on the pod, we've got a link in today's episode description. There's a simple Google form, fill it out, you'll get on the show.

Or go to t-boypod.com slash shout-out, and Jack and I will get you on the show. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Instacart, Netflix, and Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood, and Nick own stock of Nike.