The Best One Yet - 💡 “Ideas = Currency” — TED Talks’ CEO audition. Costco’s girl math. ‘Musking’ the US Gov’t.

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

TED Talks needs a new CEO… but TED is actually the deepest media biz we’ve ever seen.Elon’s mission to disrupt the government hit a new level, that requires a new term… “Musking.”Costco is now paying workers 2x the average… it’s the cost that pays for itself.Plus, a record 22M Americans called in sick today (got a case of the Super Bowl Mondays).$COST $WMT $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Monopoly 🎩. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe 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/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, February 10th. And today's part is the best one. Yeah, this is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. All right. Seatbelts are fastened. bags are, I didn't check anything, but I will see you in 24 hours, man. That is Nick is flying to Vermont tomorrow for a surprise visit to me. He's going to have a baby in like two weeks. I got to see him before this thing happens. Otherwise it's going to be a whole month. This is going to be quality T-boy together time. I have a nice of a nice little. little 48-hour itinerary with you. This is lovely. I think the dinner reservations look great. I'm already going to prepare some bottles for you guys. I'm ready to roll again. Put me to work. Yeah, we're going to Hen to the Wood, and we're going to Ben and Jerry's.

Don't give it away. Oh, oh, don't give it away. In the meantime, Jack, three stories. What we got on today's pod. For our first story, Ted Talks, the legendary speaking event, is accepting applications for a new CEO. But Ted Talks is actually the deepest media business we've ever seen. For our second story, Elon's mission to shrink and

disrupt the government hit a new level last week. So to describe what's happening, we invented a brand new term, and here it is, musking. And our third and final story, Costco is now the highest paying retailer in America by far. Costco has found the price of loyalty. Sounds like a Harry Potter book, but Costco has found the price of loyalty. But yet is, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix to start the week, Jack, love the mix. No one else is doing it. Don't lie to this morning. We know where you are right now. Yiddies, you are wrapped up under a big blanket of tears,

joys, and buffalo sauce. Just admit it. Yeah. Because today is the second biggest sick day of the year. Cough, cough, sorry, boss. I've got the black lung. According to the Harris Poll, a record 23 million Americans are missing work today. That is one out of seven employed people are out of

work today. And Nick, another 13 million of us showed up late to work today. So one out of of five employees are not getting employee of the week this week. No, they're not, because one out of five Americans has a big case of the Super Bowl Mondays. Ah, the Super Bowl Mondays. Symptoms include headache, tummy ache, a thing on your thigh, and a broken Venmo. Yeah, that burrito you ate last night, you're regretting it today, aren't you? Hey, buddy, Timmy, that's $26, man. And even wilder, the number of Americans missing work today is 20% higher than last year's Super Bowl.

the Super Bowl flute was more contagious this year. We got a reason. We'll tell you in a second. But Nick, when it comes to the illness, there's some trick plays you can pull off with your boss. Yeah, you could pretend to be sick, but you aren't actually sick. There's also what we're calling a VP sneak. You work from home, but you're barely working from home.

But we think we know why more people are calling in sick today than any other Super Bowl Monday. And the reason is the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia sports fans. They ride if they don't win. But they also ride if they do win. Either way, no one from Philly is working today.

Classic Philly. By the way, Nick lived in Philadelphia for a year. So we can say that. In this economy, besties, you stay home on Super Bowl Monday. It feels like a holiday, even though it is. Yes. Jack, let's hit our 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 an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. even do 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. Our first story, Ted Talks, the legendary speaking event, is looking for a new CEO and they're inviting anyone to audition. But before you apply, you should know that Ted Talks may actually be the deepest media, business we have ever seen. It all started with a simple question. Not for TED Talk, but that's how every TED Talk begins. Yeah, every TED Talk, every TED Talk. And that's when my journey truly began.

Now, I always assumed Ted was the name of the founder, but it's actually an acronym. It stands for technology, entertainment, and design. And every TED Talk is a journey. It is a vision. It is a profound speech of profoundness. Profundity. Yes, profundity. Ted Talk is a company. that runs speaking events in which one brilliant person talks about their one specific area of expertise. Like a TED Talk on saving the world or the power of introverts or the power of lizards, any of those would apply. There's a lot of TED Talks at this point. Bill Gates has done one. Brené Brown, His Holiness Pope Francis, they've all done TED Talks. They have, and it all began 40 years ago as a conference, but now the TED Talk is basically its own genre. And there's different styles. There's the pacing

philosopher. There's the zany genius. There's the casual bill. You know it's a TED Talk when you hear it because, Jack, they have the really critical pauses, but then the dramatic inflections to keep your attention. Did you know that there's a rule of TED Talks that they cannot go longer than 18 minutes? Yeah, if you know this, yetes. There's the 18-minute rule of every TED Talk. Why is that, Jack? That's the scientifically optimal amount of time to go deep, but not lose the audience's attention. It's long enough to go deep on the history of cockroaches, but short enough to keep you interested in the history of cockroaches. But here's the news. Ted Talks is looking for a new CEO. The guy who's been leading the company for 25 years is also choosing his successor in classic Ted Talk style. The next CEO of TED Talk is going to be whoever has the best idea. for the future of TED Talk. It's basically an audition and they're taking applications. The CEO left his email address. You should ping him. But besties, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. We whipped

out a PowerPoint presentation and we found a bigger story here on TED Talks, the business. This is a shockingly deep media business that generates an estimated annual revenue of $100 million. It's a wild evolution because TED Talk began as a secret conference exclusively for rich patrons, now it's an open, complex media company. First, they have the annual TED conference, which always takes place in Vancouver. $10,000 tickets and you get to see Sam Altman speak in person on the future of AI taking over the world. There's also the TED membership, which gets you access to a newsletter and other events ranging from $5 to $500 a month. So you can see that video of Mel Robbins reminding you that you're sabotaging your own happiness. Now, TED Talks' mission is to be open.

They want to offer their content for free, but they also need to make money, which makes YouTube perfect. And they happen to have 24 million followers on YouTube who watch for free, but they make advertising money. You may have seen TEDx. That's actually their franchise business. Yeah, they franchise the business. So, like, local events can use the TED branding and style, and then they pay TED Talks a licensing fee. So if someone did a TED Talk, that's really impressive. If someone did a TEDx talk, it just means they paid TED Talks. That's a fair point. But they're also making sponsorship money, Jack, because IBM, Google, and Rolex, that's their

largest source of advertising revenue. Nick, they call them underwriters, not advertisers. Well, played. Well, they also have a syndication business with deals for their content on Netflix, Audible, Delta. They even do a corporate training program. A B2B business where they visit companies and inspire the staff with 18-minute talks on community building.

Don't you dare talk for 19 minutes. Yet he's added all up. and TED Talks business makes the New York Times look simple. It makes Disney look boring. It makes TikTok look lame. How are they doing it, Jack? It all started with a simple question. Ted Talks.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at TED Talks? Ideas are the currency of white-collar work. Yeties, the definition of currency is, here it is, something in circulation as a medium of exchange. Not a great definition, but the U.S. dollars is the currency, because you can exchange a dollar for a good or service of equal value. Well, we believe there's another currency, and that currency is ideas. When you share a good idea at work, you get something in return.

TED Talk has positioned its ideas as the best ideas. So interesting, groundbreaking, and unique that they make you more socially and professionally valuable. Yeah. And in a society that values you being interesting, you'll pay up for those ideas. We believe ideas are now a currency. And it's why we take such care to try to craft interesting, memorable, and shareable takeaways for you. When we make our takeaways, our thought is how can you share this idea of the takeaway? And that's what we put into it.

That's how TED Talk, a company built on speeches, makes $100 million a year. Because ideas are the most valuable currency in the economy. Besides invidiochips. Which started as an idea. For our second story, to describe what Elon Musk is doing, doing in Washington requires a brand new term, so we came up with it. Musking. The same thing that happened to Twitter is now happening to the U.S. federal government.

Yeties, in the last two weeks, Jack and I have talked about this a lot. We have seen more insane quantities of news than we have ever experienced in the industry. And even more consequential than Trump's 300 executive orders. A record. Are how he has empowered one man, Elon Musk. In fact, the cover of this week's Time magazine shows Elon Musk sitting at the resolute desk in the Oval Office as if he is the president. Because Elon has unprecedented access to our government for a non-elected private person. And Jack, I noticed there follows like a particular playbook here for how Elon does things.

Jack, you want to share the formula? It's all part of his Doge mission. He will basically tweet out misinformation or an exaggeration about a government agency that he wants to, and I quote, delete. And then he embarks on mass layoffs with truze. Trump's approval. Yeah, like how he called US aid, the foreign aid agency, a criminal organization, which it isn't. Elon and the 20-something workaholics working for him got access to the U.S. Treasury payment system until a lawsuit stopped it, which meant that he could access the trillions of dollars that the federal government spends. It's just from like a basic business perspective

is a huge conflict of interest. Elon has several businesses that depend on federal government for money and for approvals. He's running SpaceX, and SpaceX depends. on government money. He's running Tesla, and Tesla depends on legalized self-driving cars. The besties, as Jack and I were digesting more of this news over the weekend, we came up with a way to describe what Elon's doing in D.C. because we've seen him do it at Twitter. It's called musking. Musking is when you eliminate as many workers and costs at a company as possible, and then just kind of cross your fingers and see if it still works. Yeah, like with Twitter, he laid off 80% of the staff. He stopped paying office leases. He refused to pay severances. That was musking. Now, Twitter does still

work, but it's like the digital Wild West, with Elon acting as the sheriff. So like, does the federal government still work? Like today, yes, yes, it does, but it may take years to see the full impact of all these cuts. Speaking of these cuts, the Trump administration also did a mass buyout offer of two million plus federal workers. Basically, we'll pay you big money right now if you quit. And Jack, where have we seen that before? According to reports, that email was copy and pasted straight from Elon. He made the same bio offer to Twitter employees. So add it all up yeties and Elon Musk's Twitter and now he's musking the federal government. Of course, the stakes are way bigger this time because millions of people depend on federal programs that he is slashing. But Elon clearly

thinks that the benefits of disruption justify the risks to people and workers. So, Jack, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies digesting all this news as well? There's a new phenomenon in the stock market. We call it the power premium. The power premium. Yeti's shocking news came out last week about Tesla's car sales in January. Jack, what were they exactly? Tesla sales fell 12% in China.

They fell 33% in Australia, 60% in Germany, and Tesla sales in January fell by 63% in France. Jack and I've been covering market news for 15 years. We have never seen a car company lose so much market share so fast. And yet, despite those truly horrible sales figures for January, Tesla stock price remains at all-time high levels. And why is that happening? Why is it the high price for the stock but such bad business right now? Tesla stock is getting the power premium. The stock is higher because the CEO is so close to power. Basically, access to Trump and the Treasury means that, Elon has influence on government money and regulation.

We're seeing this phenomenon with Oracle right now, too. The software company stock is at an all-time high, not just because of the AI boom. No, it's at an all-time high because CEO Larry Ellison is close to Trump. In fact, he's one of Trump's topics to buy TikTok through Oracle. So the difference between the state of a business and its actual stock price, it could be the power premium. The power premium.

Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Costco just gave its workers an epic pay raise. They are now the highest paying retailer in America. Why does Costco pay double the industry average? Why are they doing it, Jack? It's the price of loyalty. Yeties, Jack and I discovered this story last week,

and then a bunch of Yetis also DM'd us and told us about it too, and we jumped in T-Boy style. Most Costco stories we cover on the consumer side, like the dollar and 50-cent hot dog and soda combo, or the $5 rotisserie chicken. Or how the Costco magazine has 15 million readers. But yet, this story is about Costco's workers. Because Jack just spent $300 over the weekend on chicken bakes

and we wanted to show some love. Last week, the union representing 18,000 Costco workers was threatening to strike. Yeah, Costco's employees almost went on strike. So what did Costco do, Jack? They see your strike threat union and they raise you. a ridiculous pay increase. Yeah, that's right. Costco raised pay of its employees

to 30 bucks an hour for most of their workers. And they decided to juz it up even more. Yeah. They added two more dollar an hour pay raises guaranteed over the next two years. This straight up Kirkland cash. But Nick, Billy Mays must be on staff

because there's more. They added vacation time for first year employees and they added an extra week of vacation time if you've been working at Costco for 30 years. If you're in Cabo and you see someone buying drinks for everyone at the resort, probably works at Costco.

So Nick and I jumped in T-Boystow, because Costco is now the highest paying company in retail by far. By far. Jack, could you put on a blue vest and sprinkle on some context for us, please? The average retail worker in America gets paid $14.12 an hour, according to government data. Now, Walmart, the closest peer to Costco, their associates make $17.50 an hour on average. And Amazon's warehouse workers get $22 an hour. So do the simple math here in Costco is paying double the industry average, 70% more than Walmart and 50% more than Amazon. $30 an hour is insanely

high wages for the retail industry. Okay, Costco, Walmart, Amazon, peers, buddies, pals, top 10 and the Fortune 500. And yet Costco is paying them twice as much, Jack? This would be like if Gold then paid their bankers twice as much as Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan. Oh, totally. I mean, over on Wall Street, people will be freaking out and spanking each other. Basically, Costco's pay more than Santa pays his else, Nick. It's like the third Hilton sister, dishing out goodies. But here's the wildest part about this story, Ennis. Costco's entry-level pay after this pay raise is technically only $20 an hour, not $30 bucks an hour. But so many employees have been working at Costco for so long, a decade or more,

that the average worker pay is 30 bucks an hour. And that illustrates Costco's great underrated superpower. Loyalty. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Costco? Our favorite costs are the costs that pay for themselves. Yet is, according to McKinsey, the turnover in retail is 70% higher than any of it. other industry. And when someone quits, you have to recruit, interview, hire, train. That adds up to $1,500 per worker who leaves. So, if you think about it, a $1,500 pay raise, that pays for itself if it prevents that worker from leaving. But at Costco's high wages, they don't just prevent you from leaving. They get you to stay for eight years on average. Eight years. Again, retail is

famous for high turnover. It's considered a job, not a career. You don't stay there for more than a few months typically. But at Costco, it is a career. The average employee stays for eight years. In dog years, that's 56 years. In retail years, that's a millennium, Jack. So Costco, they've done it since the beginning. They believe that higher pay for the workers makes for happier workers, which makes for happier customers too. But that loyalty also saves them on hiring costs long term. It's the cost that pays for itself. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? TED Talk, which is a nonprofit, by the way, is looking for a new leader. Why is the TED brand so valuable?

Because ideas are the currency of white-collar work. For our second story, Elon Musked Twitter by cutting employees and cost by 80%. And now he's musking Washington, D.C. This story also explains a brand-new stock market phenomenon, the power premium. And our third and final story, Costco pays double the rest of retail. $30 an hour. and that doesn't just win loyalty. Oh, there is nothing, Jack and I appreciate more than a cost that pays for itself.

I think that's another way to describe girl math. A cost that pays for itself. Girl math themselves to employee loyalty. I love that, Jack. But yet is this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. Oh, how do we not think of that earlier? That's so good, man.

All right, first, the jobs report for the month of January came out. Only 143,000 new jobs were added. It was less than expect. But the unemployment rate somehow still fell to 4%. But we should point out, the economic report people really care about these days, it's the inflation report, which drops this week on Wednesday. Second, elf beauty stock is down 70% in just over six months. The stock is not beautiful anymore. No, and they blamed a lot of strange things. And January, it was one of the weirdest months they'd ever seen in cosmetics. First, the LA Wildfire stopped cosmetics posts from happening. on fear of appearing tone deaf.

And because TikTok was almost sort of banned, influencers weren't posting their Get Ready With Me videos. As a result, Elf Beauty didn't get as many sales. And finally, Starbucks's new policy of hands scribbling names on cups with Sharpies is resulting in lovely doodles and some awkward typos. Meanwhile, coffee prices hit an all-time high as Brazil is having a really bad crop. So your Starbucks is going to be more expensive, but charmingly, your name will be misspelled as, is that a J?

It's a G. I find that charming. Nick, it's Wick. It's Jack. I mean, Jack rarely gets misspelled. Jack, latte. Jack! Yack!

It's a yak latte, Jack. Jack, yak, latte. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Courtney Diamond over in Seattle, Washington. Get this. The term artificial intelligence was actually coined way back in 1955.

1995, which means it's 70 years ago. It was coined by, John McCarthy, a man who won the Turing Award, which is, I think, like, a computer science award, basically deeming you like nerd of the year. Well, Jack, can you sprinkle on some context to how long ago 195 was? The Cold War was still in full swing. Rosa Parks had just refused to give up her seat on the bus. Disneyland opened that year, and McDonald's was founded in 1955.

That's when we got the term artificial intelligence. It's wild how our minds can be 70 years ahead of our... artificial minds. That's a confusing sentence, but I think it works. I think you had a win with the girl math one, Jack. We should have left it up that. Yetis, you look fantastic over there. Whether you're at work or you're sick with a little bit of Super Bowl Mondays.

Nick, it's been 18 minutes. We've got to wrap up. Oh, we do. We do. Yeties, drop down to give us five stars, help grow the show. Tell someone H, Y, H, TBIY, and thank you for coming to our dead talk. And before we go, I'm. Happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Samantha Barber, turning 23 in Detroit, Michigan.

And happy birthday to Olivia Backeel in Philadelphia, who's a former Michigander, go blue. And Kiwa Lewis is turning nine years old in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Happy birthday, Kaya. Happy birthday, Kaya. And happy 37th birthday to Bree Thomas from Princeton, Texas. But at least she looks younger than a husband. Am I right? And true, congrats, Bree. And Bhavika Tilwani's turning 39 years old in Plymouth, Minnesota. She's in India for the birthday, so her family is eating her cake right now. And happy 16th birthday to Keev Kirling in Ulambatah, Mongolia. Now, we just wanted to say it again because it is incredible how many Yetis there are in Mongolia.

We've got a huge Yeti community. Happy birthday, Keeve. And finally, a shout out to Cameron Thomas from Mount Airy, North Carolina, who launched a podcast every day was casual. If you know, you know. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Disney. Nick doesn't own stock of either of those. Thank you.