The Best One Yet - 😰 “Human-shaming” — Sam Altman’s bubble. Axe’s bodyspray rebound. Milan’s Brexit win. +Hockey tooth recession

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Axe Body Spray has a comeback plan… help users use less Axe Body Spray.10 years after Brexit, Milan is shining as the winner… Milan is the new London.Sam Altman dissed humans for drinking more water than AI… but Temu AI is the real threat.Plus, why hockey players statistically lose teeth… It’s a Molar Recession$SPY $UL $META $AMZN $Buy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAYAustin, TX (2/25): SOLD OUTArlington, VA (3/11): https://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/shows/341317 New York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2Los Angeles, CA (6/3): SOLD OUTGet your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-voy. Tuesday, February 24. And today's part is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Well, let's start with the ugly stuff. Stocks tanked on tariff turbulence from President Trump. He jacked up his brand-new tariffs from 10% to 15%. He hasn't taken our advice yet to use the Supreme Court's decision as an off-ramp for his failed tariff policies. Remember, Trump was tariff maxing, and then he got legally mocked by the Supremes. But then he turned him back. But still, he might change his mind if stocks keep tanking and we will hit our three fantastic stories. What do we got, Jack?

For our first story, Axe Body Spray, wing manned your high school makeouts. Classic. But you're not in high school anymore. So to get Chen Alpha, Axe body spray is taking it easy on the Axe body spray. For our second story, Sam Altman is so defensive about his AI right now. He just blamed you for drinking too much water. The Sam Altman bubble has officially popped. And our third and final story.

The Winter Olympics are over. But the economic torch in the city of Milan is brighter than ever. Because Jack and I think the biggest winner on the 10-year anniversary of Brexit is actually Milan. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, Milan's the new London.

Jack, fantastic mix of stories. Love the mix, man. We are still celebrating an epic finale for the U.S. men's hockey team. I mean, Jack, I found a bar open at 5 a.m. in California to watch the game. I haven't even slept since they won officially. But it's not just what,

We won. It's also what we lost. Because we lost the tooth, Yetis, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth. I'm sorry, correction. Teeth. We're talking about Jack Hughes. The player who scored the golden overtime goal lost his two front teeth to win that game. But Jack, the drama, he's rumored to be dating, pop star Tate McCray, who hasn't posted about his victory yet. She might be breaking up with him. Not because of his teeth, though. Because she's Canadian. Either way, the kissing's getting awkward for those two. But this is a reminder that hockey is by far the most dentally destructive sport that we have. And we got the data to prove it. According to the Journal of Canadian Dentists, 31% of hockey players sustained an oral injury during their hockey career. And if you narrow it to just the NHL, 60% of pro players lose at least one tooth in their career. And the other 40% jack, they just haven't played hockey long enough, man. Perfectly put, man. And the reason why, I mean, in football, you wear a face mask.

Right. In boxing, you wear a mouth guard. But in hockey, leaving your mouth uncovered. That is called tradition, my friend. It's absurd. You're not required to wear a mouthpiece. The pucks are going 100 miles per hour, and you got the sticks flying in any direction. What about the fighting? You don't get thrown out of the game.

You just get a five-minute penalty. Yeah, you'd get through in jail if you did that off the ice. But otherwise, you just end up in the penalty box. Add it all up, and there's more opportunities in hockey to lose them all. You are statistically more likely to be spinning the chicklets. Fighting at the Olympics, it's actually the least Olympic-y thing that they allow to happen at the Olympics. Yeah, hockey, it's got a recession of grinders these days. In fact, full disclosure, Nick's two front teeth.

Check it out on YouTube. They're fake. That's why they look good. I get compliments on fake teeth, knocked out by a stick. His screen name used to be FaceF Guy 22. Because he played hockey and got his teeth knocked out. Jack had to drive me to the plastic surgeon after that. That's true.

Yeah, you lose three front teeth. You see a surgeon. You don't see a dentist, Jack. Best thing that ever happened to my face. Honestly, they're better than the original ones. Jack, let's in our three stories. Fifteen years before this song. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea. cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

Our first story. Axe body spray just revealed its comeback plan. Same product, just much less of it. But should Axe grow up with its original millennial customer, or should it try to stay a teenager forever? Jack and I will answer that question. But first, yet a strange story you may remember we did last year, right, Jack? Do you remember this one?

Fragrance sales are at all-time highs, but the buyer would surprise you. Yeah, something smelled off about this. Teen boys are driving a perfume boom, baby. The trend is called smell maxing. Teens are putting on multiple fragrances per day. Different scents for different body parts. And one brand in particular, they feel in the fomo in this smell maxing era. Axe body spray.

You smell it before you see it. Oh, Ack. I mean, Jack, that's got to be the OG of smell maxing, right? I mean, me plus high school, plus head-to-tale underarmor, plus Axe body spray, watch out middle school dance floor. Smell you up before I see you, Jack. High school boys' locker rooms, yeah, they smelled like a New Jersey casino back in the day. Because Axe body spray is a chemical weapon.

But here's the news. Axe is back. Well, actually, Axe never really left, right, Jack? Unilever announced in 2022 that Axe was the biggest men's fragrance brand in the world. But here in the U.S., ax is a new plan. Less is more. They have a new bottle that's 25% smaller than the original bottle, but still somehow does 10% more spray applications. And here's the key. The result is that each sprits is less axe. They're killing the ax cloud with a more controlled, limited spray so you don't overdo it on yourself. Basically, Jack, the pitch, no longer will you drown a potential mate in an aerosol vape cloud. They're helping you

help yourself with a bottle that will spray less axe on you. Yeah, you don't want to ruin the prompt. But to sprinkle on some context here as a couple of X-Ax users, Axe is actually more mature than you realize when you jump in T-Boy style. Get this, the Axe brand is actually 43 years old. It's French, and it's owned today by a European company. Unilever. They actually launched Axe back in 1983 in Paris.

Trey Romantic. It's Possible. Then they expended to the UK under the name Lynx because... That sound effect was a big hit at the British boarding schools. Then finally in the year 2002, they launched in the United States, just in time for Nix and my millennial puberty and for some controversially racy ad campaigns. Ten years later, we hit peak axe, $500 million in sales, billion dollar valuation, number one in the category with 24% market share. One out of four boys were spraying their chest with a scent of axe every morning.

Because Bessie's research shows that men under 18, there's a direct correlation, relation between underconfidence and overfragrance. The more ax body spray you use, the more confident you feel. Okay, but here's the problem. In the mid-20 teens, Axe lost its dominance, right, Jack? Its market share fell by a third, and sales fell by 30%. You see, Axe was the king of the undercarriage, but now it was losing teens. So here's their comeback strategy. Axe is making fun of itself. That's the point of that new small bottle with less axe spray. They actually have like a five-minute wait period after one spritz. You have to wait five minutes to spritz again. Do they actually hate it?

No, that's a joke. Well, Axe is acknowledging here that you use too much ax. You basically over-axed. So they've engineered the product so you don't overdo it. No more sexualized ads. The new ones are all about having fun and making fun of the ax stereotype. So Jack, smells like our takeaway. What's the takeaway for our buddies over at Axe?

You can grow up with your audience or try to stay the same age. Now, Yeties. Last year, Jack and I did a whole episode of the best idea yet, on Harley Davidson, on how the bike company was ignoring millennials and just focusing on aging boomers. Harley is a company that decided to grow with its audience. They were selling bikes to boomers when they were 40, and now they're selling bikes to boomers when they're 80. But interestingly, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we've got Axe. They didn't grow with their millennial audience. You see, there's a reason you wore axe to the bar mitzvah or the middle school dance,

but not to your wedding. Yeah, instead of growing with their audience, Axes staying the same age. they remain focused on teens. Here's the catch. If you're going to focus on the same age, you need to adapt to the newer generations. Exactly, Jack. You got to adapt from millennial teens to Gen Z teens, to Gen Alpha teens.

Each one is slightly different. And that's what this new mini spray bottle can does. It adapts to the Gen Alpha teen, who's not protecting this house. Because besties, you can grow up with your audience or you can try to stay the same age. For our second story, we can say with certainty this one,

week that the Sam Altman bubble has popped. But it might not even matter, Nick. Yeah, I may not even matter, Jack. Because Open AI's bigger threat, isn't Gemini, Microsoft Zuckerberg, or Anthropic? Yeah, yeah. It's something very different. Is it Timu AI, Jack? It's Timu A.I. Nick. Oh, Jack, could you please take us back 828 days ago? I believe that was November 23rd. What was going on, my friend? That's when Open AI suddenly fired Sam Altman for being. and I quote, not consistently candid in his communications with the board. Well, Jack, how's this for candid? Last week, Sam Altman said that AI is not the problem.

You pesky human beings are. He said that AI actually doesn't use much energy and water compared to the hog human beings, which use tons of energy and water. Sit down, stand up, and spit out your LaCroix again. I'm sorry, Jack. The face of American AI has resorted to human shaming. Yes, he has. Dassey's, if you're enjoying a Stanley,

quench your mug right now, you're part of the problem. Sam Altman also said last week that there's been more resistance to AI and culture and the economy than he expected. Probably because of those comments that humans eat too much food and we breathe too much air. I can't believe he's shaming us. That's his PR strategy? One sec. Just trying to hold my breath on this one. So yet he's everybody's been wondering for like a year or two now whether AI is a bubble. Is Sam Altman's defensiveness a sign that maybe it is? Feels like the water comment, maybe Peak Altman. But Bestie's, It's not just that Sam's mojo has popped.

What we find fascinating is that if you keep in track, his business ventures are kind of starting to pop too. The information reported on Sunday that Open AIs Project Stargate has gone nowhere in 13 months. Yeah, could he sprinkle on some context for us, please? The day after President Trump was inaugurated last year, Sam Altman went to the White House and announced a $500 billion data center project. Based on our research, the biggest most expensive project ever announced.

It kind of looks like a Star Wars planet. But now, he's a $500 billion. squabbling with his partners, NVIDIA and Oracle over who's going to pay for what. No data centers have been built, and there's no path forward for Project Stargate. Speaking of Nvidia, Jack, remember that deal to give OpenAI a hundred billion bucks so that OpenAI could then buy Nvidia chips? That deal's been canceled too, Nick. It has. It's been replaced by a standard VC investment from Nvidia into OpenAI. So, Basti's added all up in two of the biggest stories about AI last year. Stargate and OpenAI circular deal with Nvidia both effectively canceled.

The announcement's got tons of fanfare. Yeah, they did. The cancellations have died quietly, but they're equally important. Plus, Jack Paws the pot, on top all of that, the prettiest princess at the AI ball these days is Anthropic, is it not? They won the Super Bowl. They launched Claude Code, which everyone's talking about. Anthropic seems to be the one getting Wall Street's glass slipper. You can make a Disney movie out of Anthropics.

Still, though, Open AI is on the verge of closing a $100 billion funding round at a $830 billion. valuation. Which I think would be an all-time record for any private company ever. So Sam's vibes may be looking poor, but his balance sheet, oh, it's still rich. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our water drinking buddy Sam Oman? Meet China's new playbook. It's the same as their old playbook. Yeties, funny thing we noticed. To celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year, all the Chinese tech companies launched their new AI models. Alibaba, BiteDance, Deepseek. They're basically our Amazon meta and open AI. And whatever those Chinese A.m. AI models lack in tech they might make up for in price.

Because yeties, get this. China's best AI models are available to Americans and U.S. companies for one-tenth or one-twentieth, the price of the leading American versions. I'm sorry, Jack, 90% of the value for 10% of the price. I mean, that is China's playbook that beat the U.S. If Airbnb is paying a million dollars a month for Anthropic, a Chinese version is just $100,000 a month. Yeah, what this playbook is, is we call it Timu AI.

And we've seen it before. China did this back in the 80s to America's textile industry, then to our furniture industry, then footwear, toys, electronics, solar panels, electric cars. And now China's doing it to AI. That's what CEOs, investors, policymakers, that's what they should be focused on. That's what they should worry about. China's new AI playbook, it's the same as their old ones. Flood America with a cheaper version of the stuff we already have. As we call it, T-Mu AI. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Milano didn't just win the Olympics.

We think Milan also won something way bigger. Because after 10 years, a huge winner of the Brexit vote is Milan, Italy. But besties, let's start this story with the scoreboard. Jack, I'm whipping out the whiteboard over here. Team USA, I'm seeing a record 33 medals, 12 gold, not too shabby. And if you remove King Claibow, that Norwegian wonderkint of Nordic skiing, then we actually tied with Norway at 12 golds each. Not too shy.

Just like a round of applause for Team USA over here. Here we go, guys. And the two hockey golds at the end was just insane. Norwegians, fast on snow, not as fast on ice. But besties, Jack and I would argue that the goldiest of gold medals should actually go to Milan, the capital of Apparral.

This was the biggest moment for the city of Milan since Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. Yeah, if you know, you know. Now, some hate was. going Milan's way going with these games, right, Jack? Everyone was wondering, like, are these Italians going to be able to fix the hockey arena so that hockey can be played there on time? Barely was the answer, by the way.

But it looked good. Yeah, and Jack, so were the mountains, which looked fantastic. I mean, the only thing that didn't land was the stuffed animals given to the silver medal winners. Why give a bronze medal winner a little stuffed animal of some obscure animal? But besties, what the triumphant Milan-Cortina Olympics really highlight to us is one decision made a decade ago, the decision of Brexit. That's right. Britain's populist decision to exit the European Union 10 years ago was a gift to Milan.

And we got the data that I'll make you choke on that pan atone. But yet, he's to sprinkle on some context here, American tourists, they don't go to Milan like they go to Rome, Florence, or Amalfi, right, Jack? Only Nick goes to Milan because he studied abroad in Italy. And I did some work that I can tell you, Milan is basically, and this isn't an insult to Italians, Milan is basically Italy's only modern European city. Up there with London, Paris, and Amsterdam, right? Exactly. And what makes Milan fascinating and unique is that it's not a one industry town. Milan is Italy's home of fashion, of design, of finance, of manufacturing, all in one city. The way to think about it is Milan is the only place in Italy where you can see fashion models,

financial models, and the original models of Ferrari. And right after Brexit, Milan said to itself, hey, we're not getting the respect on the world stage we deserve, but maybe Brexit's an opportunity. So they made a strategic decision that kind of robbed Peter to pay Pietro. You see, in 2017, Italy introduces the flat tax. And what's that, Jack? No matter what your income, they welcomed foreigners to come to Milan, and you'll only pay 100,000 euros in taxes. This law became known as the Cristiano Ronaldo law,

and the interesting reason why. I think he had like a $100 million salary, right? Yeah. And he only paid $100,000 euros in taxes. That's less than 1%. Because he was playing soccer in Italy. Now, yet he's that flat max tax for rich people doubled to 200,000 euros in 2024, but still it was music to oligarchs arrears who feel unwanted in a post-Brexit Britain.

So that's why the billionaires came to Milan. But why did businesses come to Milan? Well, Jack, those businesses still needed to be within the European Union and the euro area for visa tariff and customs reasons. When Sachs, Citibank, J.P. Morgan, they all moved London-based traders to Milan to be within the European Union. From Canary Wharf to the course, though. And those banks attracted venture capitalists who attracted startups like,

have you ever heard of the business Bending Spoons? I hadn't until recently when they acquired AOL, Vimeo, Eventbrite, Evernote. Bending Spoons is now an $11 billion company based in Milan. But within the European Union, Milan's competitive advantage is its lifestyle. Get this. Nick's like a travel agent from Milan at this point. Milan is one hour from beautiful Lake Como, where James Bond was in Casino Royale. It's one hour from the Alps, where the Olympics just happened.

And it's one hour from your dream honeymoon on the Italian Riviera. What you're saying, Jack, is that after your morning espresso, you could go skiing, you could go swimming, you could go shopping all in one day. And the result, now Milan has Europe's hottest housing market, according to the Wall Street Journal. And they just stuck the landing on the Olympics. Basically, Milan's economy is going Gucci. London's is looking a little more Fuji. That's why we'll trade a pint for a spritz and just say it.

Milan won Brexit. Jerto. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Milan? Finance is a zero-sum game. For every credit, there's always a debit. Yetis, we got more receipts here. London's unemployment rate, it's actually up from 10 years ago, while Milan's is down.

Milan wasn't the only beneficiary of Brexit. London's mayor said that Brexit cost London 40,000 banking jobs. A lot of those went to Dublin, Luxembourg, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam too. But as London's financial industry and real estate lost value from Brexit, Milan's gained the most. So what we learn here is that what's true on financial statements is also true in the finance industry. For every debit of credit, for every buy a sell, for every asset, a liability. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Tea Boy Tuesday? Unilever's Axe body spray is adapting to today's teens with a bottle that will reduce the flow. Axe, they're not growing with

its OG millennial customer. Us. They're adapted. to the Gen Alpha teen. For our second story, Sam Altman's looking more defensive than ever, as his business hits speed bumps. Put down that LaCroy over there, Jack. No more spin drift for you. But his biggest competition in Anthropic, it's Chinese AI. That is 90% is good for 10% the price.

It's Timo AI. And our third and final story is Milan. The true winner of the 2026 Olympic Games, but give the assist to the Brexit vote. Because in finance, for every debit, there is a credit. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, as we mentioned at the top of the pod,

Trump raised the 10% global tariff that he announced on Friday to 15%. His response to the Supreme Court is more tariff maxing. That's why the Supreme Court's decision didn't provide clarity, just more uncertainty. Yeah, the status of tariff refunds and deals reached with foreign countries, those are still both huge questions. Tonight, he'll do the State of the Union, where the Supreme Court justices that he calls disloyal

will be seated right in front of him. And second, Burger King just launched a phone number, to call their president directly with complaints. True story. The commercial said flame grilled. I went in there. I didn't see a flame anywhere. Was this just microwaved? What's going on? I want to speak to a man. I want to speak to the president. Get this. The number is 305-874-0-5-20. And the president of Burger King will be taking calls four hours a day for the next two weeks. Yeah, not 24-7. Not by any means. Yeah, it's kind of a message to the whole Burger King team.

If we mess up, guys, I'm going to hear about this. And finally, Goldman Sachs just launched an AI-free stock market index. That's a Luddite fund. The old economy stocks only. Basically, the stuff your dad would have invested in 50 years ago. That's this. This XAI index is only up 32% in last three years. It massively trails the S&P 500. Okay, but here's the pitch. If AI's a bubble, then this anti-AI fund could win the next few years. This is hedge. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one, an answer to Monday's T-Boy trivia. Jack, are you ready for this? Yeah, what was the question again? question was, which American president holds the record for most handshakes ever given?

Who is the president? And what was the number of hands? It was President Teddy Roosevelt. And the reason it makes sense is not just that he's an affable guy who loved, like, interacting with people. This man, Nick, I'm reading a book about him right now. He held so many offices. The number of hands he must have shaken is unreal. He was a state representative for New York. He was the police commissioner for New York City. He was the secretary of of war. He was the governor of New York. He was the vice president and the president for two separate terms. Can't wave. Those are all handshake positions. In fact, one day at the White House in 1907, TR shook 8,510 hands, a presidential record. That's also a journalistic record, because someone

must have counted all those handshakes. Many CEOs out there want to beat the record, 8,511. It's your gain. Yiddies, you are looking fantastic for T-boy Tuesday. Jack, you are glowing before the flight. Actually, I'm going to the airport in like 10 minutes. I've got to upload the finals for the pod. I'm Austin bound as well. I'm actually dropping the family off in Florida before going to Austin. So I have a lot of flights to check into right now. Your points maxing right now, aren't you?

I am. But I'm also bringing my dog. And they don't do frequent flyer miles yet. It's a right off. There we go. We'll figure it out. Besties, we can't wait to see it for the live show this week in Austin. In the meantime, holding off on the water to celebrate the wins.

And before we go, a happy birthday. to Yeti's Alexander Tunney and Ben Tunney in Greenwich, Connecticut, back-to-back sibling birthdays up there. Happy birthday to Tam Sawyer in New York City. And Tomas Moreno, enjoy the birthday down in Jacksonville, Florida. That seventh one? That's a fantastic one. Happy birthday to Vishnu Morale in Boston, Massachusetts.

Just outside Boston. And Crystal Caffati, enjoy the birthday down in Honduras. Happy birthday to Ellie Sinan, who's playing Pearl the Octopus in the school play and having the best birthday yet in Bristol, Virginia. And Albert and Veronica, we see your anniversary in San Francisco. on Puerto Rico, enjoy the selling. And congratulations to Kath Tomer crushing the 26 SaaS sales competition just outside Boston and having a baby.