The Best One Yet - 💋 “High luxury’s low-luxe savior” — Sephora is LVMH’s highlight. FanDuel’s NYSE listing day. iRobot’s getting stock-blocked.

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

What’s powering LVMH, the largest luxury company on earth? It’s Sephora (LVMH’s favorite child) — Because great luxury builds ladders.FanDuel just started trading on the New York Stock Exchange with a $200 promo code if you download — So we’re looking at sports bettings biggest bet (yet).Roomba-maker iRobot was supposed to be acquired by Amazon, but the deal was just canceled #StockBlocked — But we gotta ask: How does this make consumers better off?$LVMUY $FLUT $DKNG $IRBT $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. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, January 30th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. This is just a T-Boy, Jack. Forgot to tell you, over the weekend, Nick, a couple buddies told me they heard T-Boy ads on other podcasts. They're in the T-Boy promos out there. That's lovely.

The marketing campaign, man. It's true. We launched a marketing campaign to grow the show this year by putting ads in other shows. So I guess if you're here because you heard about the best one yet in another show, Welcome. Welcome. This is Jack. That's Nick. This is the best one yet. You're looking fantastic. You're now a Yeti or a bestie. Either one, choose one of the other. We're whipping up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Did we mention you look fantastic? I think we met. Jack, first story for today's show. What are we got? For our first story, LvMH, the largest luxury brand on Earth just surged 13% thanks to Sephora. You're not buying another handbag, but you are buying another hand cream. For our second story, it's IRobot. They were supposed to get acquired by Amazon, but the deal just got canceled. Roomba just got roasted. And our third and final story is Fandul.

Fandul, the sports betting app, just started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. So Jack and I are looking at the sports betting industry's biggest bet yet. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What? A mix of stories you brought the razzle dazzle and the sprinkledinkle jack. The Super Bowl is officially set. The San Francisco 49ers for. the Kansas City Swifties.

But the biggest question of this Super Bowl isn't who's going to win the game? No, the biggest question of this Super Bowl is, can Taylor Swift actually get there? It's like she's going to make it. Because it turns out Taylor has a concert in Japan the day before the Super Bowl happens in Vegas. Which leads to the big question, Jack? Is there time for Taylor to get from her Tokyo concert to Las Vegas for the big game to watch her boo? Because, you know, I'm pretty sure that if Taylor Swift can't make it to the Super Bowl, the NFL will probably delay the game.

Roger Goodell is going to have to move it to Monday. He's like, Taylor, where's the concert? We'll just pack things up. I looked into it before the show. I'm pretty sure she can't make it. Jumped into the numbers here, and based on the Taylor Swift trigonometry, it appears she might be able to make it.

Look, Taylor took two months off from her heiress tour. She wasn't touring on December and January, but the tour resumes for the international lag next week. Beginning in Tokyo, Japan, next week, Taylor Swift playing concerts. So the Super Bowl is Sunday. Sunday, February 11th. But she has a concert in Tokyo Japan on Saturday, February 10th. Oh, Jack, let me jump in T-boy style for her on this one. Let's get the whiteboard.

So her last concert is Saturday, February 10th at 6 p.m. Tokyo time. But the concert's going to last like four hours. So she'll be in the dome. The average day hours of concerts, actually three hours and 43 minutes. And Tokyo to Vegas? That's a long flight. But the average private jet flight from Tokyo to Vegas is 12 hours, not 14 hours. Plus customs, there's no way she's going to make. Even Taylor Swift has to bring her passport. I'm sorry, Travis Kelsey.

She's not going to be there, man. But, Jack, if Taylor Swift can finish that concert by 11 p.m. Tokyo time, that would be 6 a.m. Vegas time. Oh, because of the huge time difference. And if she leaves at midnight Tokyo time on Saturday the 10th... Go on. Then she lands 1 p.m. Tokyo time on Sunday the 11th. Right. So there's no way she's going to pull this up. But here's the funny thing about Japan, Jack.

Their time of day in Japan is behind us. but they're one day ahead of us. Wait, what? Taylor Swift is going to cross the international date line, and that is the longitudinal line that's a demarcation between two calendar days. So she arrives in Vegas at 1 o'clock Tokyo time Sunday. But that's 8 p.m. Vegas time Saturday.

Wait, you're kidding me. Which is 19 hours before the kickoff. This can't be right. Yiddies, when you do the geographical math, Taylor Swift can make it to the Super Bowl. with a few hours to spend. Wait, you're telling me she lands in Vegas before she took off? Yes, she time traveled.

It's a Super Bowl miracle. Daler Swift, she's going back to the future. Thanks for the cartography lesson, Nick. That's her that three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a known. 50% that's a fat tip.

Tea Boy City on your at list. No, 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, LVMH, the world's biggest luxury stock just surged 13%. This luxury stock is booming, thanks to your lipstick halls at Sephora. Jack, can we sprinkle on some context here to kick things off? What Apple is to America or what Ford is to Detroit?

LVMH is to France. LVMH, it's actually the second most valuable company on the entire. continent of Europe. Louis Vuitton Moe Hennessy. It's a $430 billion publicly traded luxury company based in France. And if you have to ask the stock price, you can't afford it. Because they own 75 different luxury brands. Sorry, 75 luxury houses. Actually, it's not houses, it's Maisons, but I appreciate the pronunciation check. I guess I can't afford it. Because Elvian May Jones, Christian Dior, Tiffany Jewelry, Bulgari, Givanchi, Extra Fancy, they own all those brands. But in the post-pandemic world we live in, is the luxury boom over? The big question, Yetis, is the luxury boom over? Are we saying no more to Dior? Are we pausing

the poochie? Is our buddy Timmy not buying any more bloody? According to LVMH's earnings, no, the luxury boom is not over. Sales for LVMH rose 9% last year to $93 billion, which massively defied Wall Street's expectations. Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. Watch sales are up 3%. Jewelry sales are up 3%. Perfumes up 7% and leather goods. How are the handbags selling, Jack? They're up 9%. You know what else is up? The personal wealth of the CEO Bernard Arnaud. Oh, whip out the rankings, please. He just passed Elon Musk again as the richest man on earth. But yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. There was actually a surprise winner in the LVMH earnings. Out of their 75 brands, their favorite child was Sephora. Sephora is

the brand they mentioned most on their earnings call. Because LVMH owns Sephora, the makeup chain with the black and white bags that you see on the street. LVMH owns Sephora, the mainstream beauty chain. So put down the Prada Besties, the least luxurious brand for LVMH is their best performing brand. They're flexing main character energy at Sephora. Sales rose 20% to 20 billion dollars and profits nearly doubled last year. There was no ick in that earnings report, Jack. From the brow bars to the facial stations, And Sephora saw a surge.

From the wrinkle creams. To the what, neck? I don't know. I ran out of creams. I ran out of creams. To the vitamin C serums. Let's go with that, Jack. Yeti, Sephora just opened a flagship in Paris on the Champsalee say this is the Louvre of lipstick.

And Sephora launched stores within stores at Coles, generating over a billion dollars of sales. And Sephora is winning the battle of the generations. According to surveys, Gen Z prefer shopping at Sephora than shopping at Ulta. And that's a good sign for the future. So yes, LVMH proved that luxury is still living its best life. But the less luxurious, Sephora, is their real savior. That is LVMH's favorite child. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at Louis Vuitton, Moe, and S.

Great luxury builds a ladder. The fundamental tension point of all of luxury is that you want to sell a lot of stuff, but you don't want to sell too much stuff. You have to be unattainable, which means high prices, which limit sales. And that is why Sephora has proven so critical for LVMH. Like a low rung on a ladder, Sephora sells to shoppers who have regular incomes. You can't afford the Christian Dior handbag,

but you can't afford the Christian Dior pricey lipstick sold at Sephora. You probably can't afford the Bulgari rap dress, but you can afford their lower price fragrance they sell at Sephora. Besties with Sephora, LVMH has built a ladder. With rungs for consumers to climb up, or climb down. Jack's miming a ladder, which is French. For our second story, the big merger between Amazon and I-Robot just got called off.

We get that we have to rein in big tech, but how does this make us better off? I-Robot, the maker of the Roomba. You've got one of these things, right, man? Yeah, it's the only robot you'll put on your wedding registry. The Roomba was like the original friendly robot. One of the few robots that, like, isn't going to kill you. It picks up all the hair. You didn't realize your pet was shedding.

I robot, it's got all the dirt on you. Literally. Now, in August of 2022, we covered on this pod. Amazon announced it was acquiring IRobot for $1.7 billion in cash. Because Amazon wants to control your home like a butler. From their Amazon ring security system you have on the front door to the Amazon room of vacuum you have in your living room. But Yeties, here's the news.

This Amazon I robot deal, it just got canceled. The two companies heard that European regulators, were going to block the deal, so they preempted it and announced it was off anyway. The deal is off. Jack, did Irobot just get stock blocked? It did. You got stock blocked. Now, this is a bummer for the giant tech company Amazon, but it's actually devastating to LittleI Robot. Because Little I Robot is worth just $400 million now.

For 18 months, the I Robot team has been mentally, financially, and operationally preparing for a game-changing deal that is now canceled. That's probably one reason why I-Robotie. IROBot sales have suffered for eight straight quarters now. For eight straight quarters, IROB sales have been shrinking. Now, instead of getting a $1.7 billion cash check, IRobot is all alone. And they have been left in some serious financial trouble. Yesterday, the same day they announced the deal was off. They also announced layoffs of 31% of the workforce.

And they're outsourcing some of their engineers to low-cost countries. 350 people are going to be out of a job. They're cutting R&D spending. They're pausing their air purifier business line. Jack, how about that Rumba lawn mower we've been so excited about? That's on pause, too. I don't even have a lawn. I was excited for that thing.

The stock for IRobot fell to a 14-year low yesterday on all this bad news. Even Colin Engel, the MIT guy who founded the company, had to step down as CEO yesterday. He basically pinned his fortunes on this Amazon deal. So yet, he's when you add all of this up, this really got Jack and me asking one question. And Jack, it's our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at? I-Robot. We can't help but ask, how does this make us better off? Look, yet, these Econ 101, monopolies are bad because consumers get screwed by higher prices. We understand blocking

mergers of legacy airlines, because there's so few of them, we need some competition in the market. But we got to ask, how was Amazon acquiring little Rumba going to hurt us consumers out there? The Europeans thought that Amazon owning Rumba would result in raised prices and less innovation in the robot vacuum space. But Jack and I are looking to I Robot. Think of everything we just told you. It's damaged. They literally just announced less innovation because the company's and tatters. Because the deal got blocked. Now, we get blocking mergers, but it feels like Amazon's acquisition of Rumba was the wrong merger to block. Plus, this block merger is a bad sign for entrepreneurs who need the financial incentive of things like exits to take the risk that

they take. Yet is the way we see it blocking this deal. It just doesn't make the consumer better. off. For our third and final story, it's Fanduel. Fandule just began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. But that $200 of free cash, Fandul is offering you and your buddies, it's not cash. And we'll explain. But first, Jack, I just got to ask you a question here. At the end of January's, it feels like one human being gets more attention than any human being on Earth. Every year in the lead up to the Super Bowl, Rob Gronkowski commercials are all over the place. They bring him out like he's a prop. He is a prop.

Turn on the Gronk. Gronk turned on. Like, what's going on? They used Gronk again yesterday. He showed up to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange wearing a football jersey. Yet he's the retired New England Patriot, Rob Gronkowski, was celebrating the listing of Flutter,

a British $40 billion sports betting company. And why exactly did they hire Gronk, Jack? I mean, Gronk is the least British person I've ever seen. That's true. I think he would have thrown tea off of the Boston Tee. Tea Party Jack. Correct. They hired Grunk because Flutter owns Fandual. Fan duel. America's number one most used sports betting app. They've got 43% of the entire sports betting market. Basically, one out of every two sports bets made in America happens on the Fandual app. It is if you lost

a hundred bucks on the Lions game in San Francisco last weekend, odds are you lost that money on Fan Duel. Now, Flutter was already trading in London, but Grunk just spiked the stock into New York City, just in time for the Super Bowl. But if we're going to talk about sports betting apps, there is one expense that just jumps off the income statement. You jump in T-Boyce style out to those numbers and the one expense sports betting spends more money on than anything else? It's marketing, baby.

And to understand Fandual's marketing, consider what happened to me this past week. Jetty's Jack was skiing down the slopes of Vermont and what did you notice, Jack? What blew up your cell phone? Nick, on January 11th, the Green Mountain's joined nearly three dozen other states in legalizing sports betting. Now, Jack, I know your phone number by heart. I'm not going to say it on the pod because, you know, security. Sorry, Dick. I'm not Adidas's CEO. Don't share that.

But you've got an 802 area code for the state of Vermont. And what did you receive exactly? I received three different unique referral links, two from my brothers and one from another buddy. They all said the same thing. And can you read it off to us? What did you get on your phone? Use my link and we'll both get $200 in sign up bonuses. Plus, there was probably like a TV.

ad blitz for Fanduel, right? Fandall has such a full court press on me right now. Every time I turn on the TV, it's grok shouting at me that Fandul is now live in Vermont. But yet he's here's the wild thing. Now that Fandul is legal in the state of Vermont, its rival sports betting companies also went on a marketing blitz in the state of Vermont. Draft Kings is trying to get me, but they don't have commercials or unique referral links. They have physical mailers in my mailbox telling me to just make one bet.

of five bucks and I'll get $200 of bonus cash. Mormons are showing up on Jack's door, knocking and saying, Have you considered embracing the good lord in your heart? And have you considered the over under on the next game tonight? This is actually the fundamental element of a sports betting apps business model. They spend hundreds of dollars to acquire each customer. So yet, he's Jack and I are looking at the situation and we got to ask. How can the sports betting apps give fans $200 to download their app?

And how are they making money off that? And the answer, Jack? They don't really give away $200. So Jack, could you put $50 on the Niners and six? And what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Fanduel? This is sports betting's biggest bet that you'll never withdraw the cash. Yeties, think about this for a sec. It sounds like an easy scheme.

You could download like the Fandul and the Draft King's apps, bet $5 and then just leave with all the promo money. Leave with $390.90. What a great deal. Every American could just take that bonus cash and run. But here's the key. These apps, they don't want you to do that. In fact, these apps, they don't let you do that. They will not let you withdraw the promo cash that they give you. And since you can't withdraw that promo cash, all you can do is bet with it and the house always wins. On average, betters lose 5% of every bet they make. You'll win some, but you'll lose more. Sports betting is there to make games entertaining for the fan, not for the fan to make money. The only uncertainty is whether you'll ever withdraw the cash. And the sports betting apps don't think you will. They think you'll

only deposit. And that is sports betting's biggest bet yet. That you'll never withdraw cash. Make it a hundred on the Niners. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? LVMH's earnings defied the broader turn down in luxury. The stock jumped 13% yesterday. luxury builds a ladder like LVMH and Sephora. For our second story, it's Amazon's deal with IRobot. It got called off as regulators were going to block it. But we got to ask, how does blocking this deal really make consumers better off? And our third and final story is Fanduel.

They now trade on the U.S. stock market just like Draft Kings does. Sports betting apps biggest bet yet? It's that you'll never withdraw your cash. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, although the FAA cleared United Airlines to fly their 737 max nines again, United is reportedly switching future orders from Boeing to Airbus. But as we told you last week, there's a 12-year wait list to get a new airbus right now.

And second, Ford Motor Company, just did something we've never seen. They declared allegiance to one NFL team with an emotional tribute to the Detroit Lions. Well, after all, the stadium is called Ford Field, Detroit. and the owner of the team, her last name is Ford. And finally, remember that drink we told you about at Starbucks, that Aliotto drink? It's coffee with olive oil added in. Well, starting today, Starbucks is launching their new Aliotto drink nationwide across America, all U.S. locations. At your local Starbucks, you can get a coffee with olive oil.

Hey, Darlene, two punks, extra virgin. Yeah, it's going to cost you. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Jake Contos from a lovely Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hey, Nick and Jack, I wanted to sprinkle on a little more context regarding Dolly Parton's nonprofit you mentioned in Friday's pod. The Dollywood Foundation runs the Imagination Library, which sends books to kids in the mail, age zero to five, for free every month until the child turns five years old. Over 200 million free books have been gifted as of the end of 2023. The Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading and that all children should,

should grow up in a home full of books. Yeties, if your home needs books, check out Imaginationlibrary.com to see if there's an affiliate in your area. And besties, if you'd like to donate, again, visit imaginationlibrary.com. The Dolly Pardon economy keeps on giving baby. Wonderful. I'm so glad Dolly is making sure every family has plenty of books. Yeties, you look fantastic today.

And if you happen to be flying from Japan to the United States right now, if you can document this journey for us, we need to, like, follow the numbers on this. I'm still struggling to understand. They're so far east, they're west. Well, the ironic part, she's going to win a Grammy for her next song, which is about this. It's going to be called Time Travel. It's all about the content, baby. Jack, you're looking fantastic.

Yeties, you're looking great. If you haven't yet, click to follow us so you get T-Boy every single day. Spoiler, tomorrow's episode is the best one yet. We guarantee you. Nick and I, we'll see you there. If you know, you know. And before we go, a happy 50th, birthday to Mike Dravo and Erica in Florida, whose birthday turned into a spontaneous wedding.

No joke, we saw the picks. Amazing. And congratulations to Professor Maria Lay, who taught her first college class in sustainability. And a happy birthday to Yeti Claire Atkinson, who's celebrating in Coral Gables, Miami. Happy 27th birthday to Taylor Aberley, at the chef's counter for a delicious meal in Columbus. And to anyone else who celebrates something today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Nick and I both own stock of Apple.