The Best One Yet - 👻 “I took a Ghost Ride” — Robotaxis, San Francisco, & Tesla. Bed Bath & Beyond Bankruptcy. Coca-Cola’s BodyArmour.

Episode Date: April 25, 2023

Robotaxes have taken over San Francisco’s streets, but the real winner here could be Elon’s Tesla. Before it got disrupted, Bed Bath & Beyond was disrupting with 1 marketing strategy that it went all-in on. And sales of Coca-Cola’s drinks are all up, except for 1 particular beverage… because ⅔ of acquisitions fail.$BBBY $KO $GOOG $TSLAWant 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 YoutubeLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, April 23th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-B-B-O-I, Yetis, we whipped up a special one. What do we got for a story on the pod? Bed Bath and Beyond just added a fourth B. Bankruptcy. But we're not here to tell you how it died.

We are here to tell you how it lived. For our second story, there's a new thing taking over the streets of San Francisco. Yes, there is. Robotaxies. You don't just ride. a robo taxi. You own a robo taxi. And our third and final story, sales of Coca-Cola are up, except for one specific type of drink. Because two out of three acquisitions fail. Two out of three acquisitions fail. Two-thirds of acquisitions don't turn out like you thought they would.

66.67%. Nearly 70%. But yet, before we hit that wonderful max. But one out of three do succeed. We should point that out. I guess that's the same. Yeah. The cup's not half full, but it's one third fault. Yes, it is. I cut you off. I cut you off. Jack, where were we? Where were we been?

Not many IPOs. We haven't seen that many IPOs this year. Not many companies are going public this year, are they? But a funny thing Nick and I noticed, the one company that is going public right now is the Jay Peterman catalog. Jay Peterman catalog. Jack, where have we heard of Jay Peterman catalog? Yeah, that Jay Peterman catalog from the TV show, Seinfeld.

We're talking about the J. Peterman Company from Seinfeld, they are going public. In Seinfeld, season six, Elaine starts working at Jay Peterman, a flamboyant fashion company. Now, Jack and I thought this was a fictional company on a real TV show. And Nick and I are big Seinfeld fans, so we were surprised we were off on this. Because it turns out this is a real company that was also in a real TV show. That's right. Soon, you can buy real stock in the real company from the fictional plot of Seinfeld.

Hey, like soon you can buy shares of Elaine's boss from season six. Vandalai coming soon. And that got us thinking, what TV brands do you wish were real? It got us wondering, what movie brands would you buy stock in? Let's kick it off with my first wish, Dunder Mifflin. Publicly traded paper company based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Or how about Duff Beer Incorporated? Oh, that could be finally a challenge to Budweiser and Miller Light.

Rose Apothecary is a small business, but I think they could scale. Yeah, they would have the perfect lavender box. scrub to go public with Jack. But if you want to go Dow Jones Industrial on us, let me turn you to Stark Industries Incorporated. Oh, that Jack would be a global defense stock if I've ever seen one man. Last but not least, Wilder would kill

for stock of pizza planning. The stock could go to infinity and beyond. Yeties for T-Boy Tuesday, we want to know from you. What fake brand from TV should be real? What company from a movie would you buy stock? This up at T-Boy Pod, we want to know. Even if Dwight Shrewd is CEO. But Pam got a promotion.

Tell us what fake company you wish were real. At T-BoyPod, Jim, we want your answers. Tea Boy Tuesday, let's hit our three stories. 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. 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 rich. For our first story, Bed Bath and Beyond has officially declared bankruptcy. But instead of mourning this tragic loss, we want to celebrate together the innovation that was Bed Bath and Beyond and its prime. I just don't know if we'll have enough time. Oh yeah, that's right.

Yeties, if you didn't have an argument with your parents at a Bed Bath and Beyond before freshman year, did you even go to college, man? The day I met Nicholas Martel in February of 2007. I remember you walking in. I went to bed, bath, and beyond with my mom. Yes, you did. And what were you guys arguing about? I wanted to impress Nick with my brand new duvet cover.

Yes, you're like, should I spend it on the shower caddy? Is Nick going to judge my lufel if it's pink or if it's aquamarine? I'm like, Mom, I need two ex-body sprays. Yeties, Bedbath and Beyond. Shockingly, 52 years old, they just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is it with Bedbath and Beyond. And as is usually the case with bankruptcies, the stock has fallen to practically nothing.

It was 19 cents the last time we checked. It's down 99% from its all-time high. Now, while many brick and mortar chains are actually thriving right now. Yes, they are. Bedbath and Beyond made one obvious and critical mistake. We're not being critical here, but honestly, they relate to the internet.

The founder himself said it. He said we missed the boat on e-commerce. Which is not a boat you want to miss in that industry, Jack. When it comes to retail, I don't think you're allowed to be late for e-commerce. Now, Yetis, we just told you that IKEA is thriving with its Omnichannel retail right now. But Bed Bath and Beyond is dying with its still pre-internet business model. Now, Jack, we should sprinkle on a little more context here for people who may have a gift card or two on them at the moment. That's right. If you have a baby registry, a wedding registry, gift cards,

or want to return something from Bed Bath and Beyond, pay attention. You do not want to miss this boat, Yetis. Because Bed Bath and Beyond, sadly, plans to close down all their stores. And Bessies, if you got a coupon on you, you may want to use that in the next 24 hours. Starting Wednesday, no more coupons allowed. And if I had a gift card, I'd use it soon if I were you. Beep, beep, beep, can we back up a second for us on bed bath and beyond? Everyone's ripping on bed bath and beyond. We've heard the jokes. The fourth B is for bankruptcy. Yes, yeah, it never gets old. Guilty, we said it at the top of this pot. But here's Yeties with Jack and I, find fascinating about this story. Yes, Bed Bath and Beyond has been disrupted, but Bed Bath and

Beyond used to be the disruptor. When this company began, it was just called Bed and Bath. That was the limit of their ambitions. Back when it was thinking small, right, Jack? But then they looked across the street because there was a giant 50,000 square foot superstore and they said, we're going to move into that store. Honestly, Basties, it's easy to forget, but Bed Bath and Beyond was really one of the first ever superstores. They pioneered the concept. In 19, In 1887, they changed their name to Bed Bath and Beyond. Yes. Which gave them permission to put anything in that store.

Okay, now here's the key part. Once they got huge, Bed Bath and Beyond pioneered a very new, innovative ad technique that was totally different from everyone else. Everyone else was spending big marketing dollars on advertising and TV commercials. Everyone's doing the President's Day weekend sale. They're doing the commercials on cable TV. Or they were putting them in newspapers. Instead, here's what Bed Bath and Beyond did. They took all of that marketing budget for TV and put all of it into coupons.

Coupons. Coupons. Physical coupons. So instead of a million dollars for that 7 o'clock cable TV prime advertising commercial spot, instead, Bedbath and Beyond would mail $10 off coupons to 100,000 potential customers. And that's really how it became an icon of retail. We've all seen this. The 8.5 by 11 inch blue white bed bath and beyond coupon.

Every time you leave Bed Bath and Beyond, you feel like you got a deal because you literally got 20% off everything. And here's the key yeties. You'll walk in for the towel with the coupon, but then you're leaving with the vacuum and a blanket. Nick, they actually set up their stores like a racetrack. So you had to pass by everything in the store. You had to get tempted by everything. You're not walking by aisle 6 without grabbing a couple lufas, are you, Jack? Again, the beyond.

You may as well get three lufus. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our bud? is over at Bed Bath and Beyond. If you're going to go first, go big. Yeties, we are gathered here today to remember Bed Bath and Beyond, a company that has moved on after a long battle of not making profits. We're not here, though, to discuss the death by e-commerce. No, we're not.

We're here to discuss its life. Because Besties, Bed Bath, and Beyond, was a first in physical marketing. They realized that their physical coupons were their differentiator. So they went all in on that differentiator. They really did use their entire marketing budget on sending coupons, not commercials. And that's how they became so culturally relevant. And that's why today you can buy an expired Bed Bath and Beyond coupon on eBay like it's a collector's eye. We jumped in T-Boy style. Don't believe us. Go on eBay. Search for Bed Bath and Beyond.

You can buy coupons that are expired. If you're going to go first on something, go big on it. Go big on it. For our second story, Robotaxis are officially like all over San Francisco. There's one right there, Jack. They are ghost driving the Embarcadour right now. Yes, they are, Jack. And Tesla's other master plan depends on these robotaxies.

Yeah, it is Jack and I. We want to play a little game with you. Let's close our eyes. Except if you're driving right now, don't close your eyes. But otherwise, close your eyes. And imagine you had a car that could drive itself. What would you do if you had a self-driving car? Would you drive across the country and not have to do any work?

Would you drive across the country while sleeping in the back seat? Would you play Mario Kart video games behind the wheel in an ironic twist? Would you let Mario beat you in Mario car while you're behind the wheel? Exactly. Well, Yeties, there's actually a right answer to that question and everything we just said is wrong. The right answer for what you should do with your self-driving car is stay home and do nothing. Yeties, in the future, when you have a self-driving car, you should just watch your favorite movie from your couch while your car is outside working for you. Stay with us here, yeties.

If your car can drive itself, then it can be your car when you need it. and your Robotaxie when you don't need it. Yes, that part is key. All right, Yetis, we'll slow it down for a second. Your self-driving car can drive you when you need it, like, you know, during the day, but then it can drive others when you don't need it like at night. That would be powerful.

You could hang out at the park and play with your dog while your car is picking up people and dropping them off and making money for you. Your car would become your ultimate side hustle. You would be making money with your car while you do nothing. Now, here's why you're going to. Jack and I wanted to share this insight and cover this story. Because when I wake up every morning, I text Jack a video of a self-driving car going by our apartment. The self-driving car imagination, it's urgent because it's happening in San Francisco right now. Literally across the city,

like all the time. Like when you wake up in San Francisco, you're seeing Google's Waymo self-driving cars or you're seeing General Motors cruise self-driving cars. And nobody is behind the wheel. No one's behind the wheel. Here's the key, though. They can only pick you up in San Francisco and charge you a fare between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Because there are fewer people on the street. But Nick's done that before. He's gotten robotaxy rides. And these rides have driven a million miles without a major accident in California. Okay. So it was like after 10 p.m. after dinner.

And I was going to call you, Jack, because it was like so exciting. I was like asleep. It was one a half for you. I was on these cars. But it's pretty wild because a car comes up to you. It looks like, I don't know, a big microwave. And then you use your phone to get in. and you just like go in the back seat,

and it's like your iPhone's driving. You don't talk to anybody. You're not talking to anyone. Right now it's in a testing phase, and if you participate like Nick did, you get a ride for half the price, but it drives pretty slow. You know, we should point out,

you're paying half the fare because there's no driver, but this thing really loves stopping at stop signs. And that's why we're telling this story, because after years of empty hype around self-driving cars, Robo taxis are having a real moment in San Francisco right now. However, the biggest beneficiary of this, Robotaxy Revolution. It might not be Google and it might not be General Motors, actually. It might be Tesla. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who really like to play about the

traffic rules over in the Robotaxy industry? Tesla's other master plan is Operation Robotaxie. Yet he's just last week. Elon Musk said that he's cut Tesla's car prices and doesn't mind not making money anymore on Tesla. The reason he doesn't care about profits today is that to Tomorrow, Elon thinks he'll have the technology to turn every Tesla on the road into a robotaxie with one click. All right, here's the vision besties. When you are not using your Tesla car, Elon would let it become a Robotaxi. Your Tesla goes from an expensive asset you spend money on to an asset that generates income for you. And Tesla likes this because Tesla can take a little piece of the action, too.

Maybe they're charging a dollar fee for every Robo ride, your Tesla ticks. Or maybe Tesla's charging $15,000 one time. for that robo-taxy feature. This robotaxy vision is the reason investor Kathy Wood thinks Tesla is worth $5 trillion. She's obsessed with Elon Musk, but this is the reason she's so into Tesla too. We should also point out Elon has been very late on his robo-taxy promises. Yeah, Elon first told us that robotaxies would happen by 2020. And they haven't. But robotaxies, yeah, they're happening right now. I'm seeing them every morning over breakfast. And Tesla could be the real long term winner with Operation Robotaxie. And now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. Not sure what to order?

Make sure to ask about the specials. Seared tuna on a bed of rice with ginger a only. Yes to that. Robin Hood's cash card has a lot of specials too and they come with some perks. This time, it's your favorite sneaker brand. Next time, it's your favorite sushi spot. It's the special this week. And if you buy it, you get cash back with no activation required. So buy these sneakers with Robin Hood and get rewarded for it. If you're not investing with Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-boy. Spending account offered through Robin Hood money, NMLS-190968. The cash card issued by Sudden Bank, member FDIC, pursuant to a license by MasterC, certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. For our third and final Lufa, I mean story,

Coca-Cola. They just told us that all of their drinks are selling right now except for the one it acquire. Because believe it or not, about two thirds of acquisitions fail. Two out of three. But first all, yeah, we're going to drop a stat like that on you. First, we got to give you a fun fact. Jack, we got a fun fact about Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola in its earnings call didn't mention the word soda a single time. No, they didn't. They also didn't mention the word pop for our Midwestern buddies either. Guess what they called their key product. What did they call it again? A sparkling soft drink. That's what they call Coca-Cola. That's like us calling T-Boy in audio-sensory performance. Jack. Exactly. Well, Coca-Cola sold nearly $11 billion of sparkling soft drinks last quarter,

mainly by jacking up prices of that Coke. And Diet Coke comes in a skinny can, but man, that thing really distracts from the prices. Fat prices. Now, yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We jumped in T-Boy style, and we scanned Coca-Cola's earnings, and we noticed that there was one bottle that wasn't a bubbly. We noticed that sales of Coca-Cola's coffee, it's water, and its soda, all rose last quarter. Yeah, those are up 9%, 8% and 3%. Not too shabby. There you go, co. Sales were flowing for those key products. But there is just one category over at Coca-Cola that actually fell last quarter. And Jack, what was that category? One category that shrank for Coke is sports drinks. Sports drinks like pulled a hammy because yet he's Coke owns

Powerade, which is forever played backup goalie to Gatorade in the Jug Wars. And that's why Coca-Cola acquired body armor. Do you remember that? Right. Buddy, yeah, remember body armor? We covered it on the pod. That was Kobe Bryant's sports drink startup. Coca-Cola acquired body armor for nearly six billion dollars. Coca-Cola acquired body armor for like two lifts. That's the context, yet is. And the reason? Body armor sales were doubling for three straight years from like 2018 to 2021. Three straight years, body armor doubling in sales every year. And then Coke bought it. Yeah. And what happened then, Jack? Well, in the latest quarter, body armor sales fell by 1%. They fell for the first time in the brand's history.

So in the earnings call, the CEO of Coca-Cola admitted they've got a problem after this body armor acquisition. The CEO admitted hiccups as they merged Powerade with body armor over at Coca-Cola. And that made Jack and me remember something interesting. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Coca-Cola? The dirty secret about deals, two-thirds of acquisitions fail. Yeah, it is. To acquire a company, you usually got to pay a little extra,

a little bit of a sprinkle dinkle. It's called a premium. It's about 33% more that you would pay on average. For example, if body armor was worth $4.5 billion, Coke had to pay $6 billion

to get it to agree to sell. But here's what that means. That means that Coca-Cola now has to run body armor 33% better just to break even on the deal. And that, usually doesn't happen. No, it does not. Because buying a company often messes with that company's

mojo. Now, besties, we know what you're thinking here. If two out of three acquisitions fail, then why do acquisitions happen so many times a year? Great question. We think it's because CEOs have to tell investors a growth story. Honestly, acquisitions, that's like a pretty growthy-looking story, isn't it, Jack? Oh, you're requiring somebody. That got me interested. Yeties, there's not much hard data on whether acquisitions work out or not. It's partially a subjective analysis. But based on Jack's and my experience being your financial industry liaisons, we estimate that two out of three corporate acquisitions just don't work out. They fail. That's the dirty secret of corporate deals. It's the dirty secret of doing deals. Jack, can you whip up the

takeaways for T-boy Tuesday? Bed Bathbion's long battle with e-commerce has ended with bankruptcy. But it was once a disruptor because it went first and then it went big. For our second story, Nick took his first Robo Taxi ride last month at San Francisco. It was a laugh ride. It was great. It was just him in the car. There was nobody behind the wheel. Oh, it was Molly there too, but I was kind of freaking out about the car.

You guys were dinking hard. That car is made for dinks. Yet he's Tesla's other master plan is Operation Robotaxi. And our third and final story is Coca-Cola. sales rows for every product they have except body armor. Because here's the dirty secret about doing deals. Two thirds of acquisitions, they fail. That's something the investment bankers won't tell you.

Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Nick and Jack, but I actually don't know the answers. Like, this is a good Jack one. Well, the Jay Peterman, Seinfeld, we got to do a Seinfeld trivia question here. Oh, this is good. This is good. Hit me. What do we got? What do we got?

Besides the four main characters of Seinfeld, who are, Nick, can you help me here? Okay, we got Elaine, we got Kramer, we got Jerry, and we got George. Besides those four characters, who makes the most appearances in Seinfeld? Not Jerry, not Elaine, not George, not Kramer. Who's the fifth most frequently their character? Okay, Jack, let me apply some strategy here. First, I'm going to think proximity, so I'm going to go with Newman because he lives in the building.

Good guess, but no. Okay. Then I'm going to go with eccentricity, so I'm going to go with Jackie Childs. I'm a lawyer, no. He's only like a half dozen episodes. All right. Then I'm just going to go with fun here, Bubble Boy, that's first. feels like an opportunity.

That's one episode. Okay, okay. I was kind of round up on that. All right, what's the answer, Jack? The answer, Yetis, is the person who works behind the cash register at the coffee shop monks. She's in the background of like every single episode. Jack, that fact is real and it's spectacular. I see what you did there and I like every minute of it.

Yeties, if you have a brand that's in a movie or a TV show that you wish were real and could buy stock in, we want to hear it. What fake brand do you wish we're real? Get us up at T-Boy Pod because you look fantastic today. Happy T-Boy Tuesday, Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday across the pond to Yeti Cameron Fari from Dublin, Ireland. And happy 30th birthday to Jordan Rosenbaum in Denver, Colorado.

And Raoul Vasquez, happy birthday down in San Juan, Texas. And Feliz, Cumblai Annia. to Scott from Minnetonka. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. And to anyone else who's wearing their T-boy merch right now, you look fantastic. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood. And now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood.

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Certain limitations apply. Roundup services are provided by RHY. You must have a brokerage account with RHF or a cryptocurrency account with RHC in order to fully utilize investment features. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC. member SIPC. Oh, my wrist. Weird.

Jack, see if they'll do a two-for-one deal and replace your hip. You call me old. That's exactly what you're doing. So, Jack, what's the takeaway? What was that, Nick? What was that?