The Best One Yet - 🎟️ “It’s not me. Hi. I’m not the problem. It’s Ticketmaster” — Taylor Swift’s monopoly. Tom Ford’s $2.8B perfume. Samara’s tiny homes.

Episode Date: November 17, 2022

Taylor Swift’s concert tickets just broke TicketMaster — but the debacle also shows how TicketMaster’s monopoly frustrates everyone with fees. Tom Ford’s fashion house just sold for $2.8B to Estee Lauder because they like the smell of him. And the solution to the housing crisis? It may be the Airbnb Co-Founder’s startup for mini-homes designed to be built in backyards.$LYV $ABNB $ELFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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 Thursday, the new Friday, November 17th, and today's pod is the best one yet. Are your bags packed? Bags are packed? Am I going to see you in New York? Thanksgiving T-boy get together. I can't freaking wait.

Jack, I'm going to wear the new T-boy hat on the flight. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Our audience hasn't seen those yet. Take it easy. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. First story, what do we got, Jack? You want to buy tickets to see Taylor Swift live?

Well, you can't. Because Taylor Swift broke ticket master. Or did Ticketmaster? Jake Taylor Swift. For our second story, Airbnb's co-founder just launched a tiny home startup specializing in YIMBY. YIMBY. Yeah, in my backyard. That's where I want a tiny home. For our third and final story, Tom Ford, the style icon behind Gucci, just sold his fashion brand for $2.8 billion. But it's all about how Tom Ford smells. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix. Just a wonderful mix. I love this mix, Jack. On this pod, a couple days ago,

We asked you one simple question. We asked you one peculiar but perfect question. Which pocket do you put your phone in? Yeah, front left, front right, back pocket, no pocket, any pocket. Which one? Some of you are front right forever. Some of you are back left or bust. The Yeties, you responded in big numbers. The besties?

You got opinions. Many of you actually selected option E, none of the above. Because pocketability is apparently on a spectrum. For instance, Mike D, he puts his first. phone in his breast pocket. Because the breast pocket is the best pocket. Scott, on the other hand, does neither left nor right, nor front nor back. Yeah, Scott uses the middle pocket of his hoodie. Eric changes pockets every single day. Mondays, Eric does right. Tuesdays, Eric does left. Susan, you know what? Susan's going to put the phone in her left brawka. But Jack Katt puts her phone

in her right brawka. Derini, she's never even used a pocket before. Because Doreen has held her phone forever. And William's a big fan of the man bag, like me. A correction, it's a European carry-off. But Yeties, we still haven't told you the winner. Vesties, the big question of which you are curious still has not been answered. Was there a winning pocket preference? Is there a perfect pocket for your ideal poned placement? The answer is yes. There was. And that answer is at the beginning of tomorrow's show. We're going to save it for tomorrow's show. stores. can do about it. Nothing she can do. Because Ticketmaster has a monopoly on tickets.

We don't want to be creepy here. We don't be weird. But like, Jack and I do know what you were doing at 10 a.m. like two days ago. Yeah, the calendar was blocked. It was. Your calls were canceled. Uh-huh. They were. Put your status on Slack as a way. Ma, leave the meatloaf by the door. At 10 a.m. yesterday, you could buy pre-sale tickets to see Taylor Swift. And that was a big deal. Because it was her first tour in five years. It begins in March and you could finally buy tickets on Tuesday morning. So at 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning, you logged into Ticketmaster and Jack, what did Swifty see out there?

Error message. Yeah, 404, whatever that kind of code means. 404 error. Apparently, you couldn't buy the tickets. You were facing an error. You refreshed the window. You saw the 404 message again. Turn on the computer, turn off the computer, sit down, stand up, sit back down again.

Ticketmaster called this unprecedented demand. They said there were technical glitches. They asked us all in a support message to hang tight. Honestly, it got so emotional out there that Taylor Swift should write a song about this entire horrible experience trying to buy her tickets. This debacle with the launch of her concert ticket sales was more painful than that scarf. Jake Jill and all left behind. It's not me. Hi, I'm not the problem.

It's Ticketmaster. So Yeties, we jumped in T-Boy style and Ticketmaster's numbers, they reveal some bad blood. Ticketmaster is clearly the anti-hero. Because Ticketmaster isn't just any old company. Ticketmaster is a feeocracy. It's a fieocracy. Ticketmaster's got more fees than Katie Perry backup dancers. You got the convenience fee.

You got the delivery free. You got the at-home printing free. You got the venue fee. Jack, what's our favorite fee? You got the fee fee fee. The fee fee fee. We looked at their annual report. Turns out Ticketmaster mentioned the word fee 66 times.

Why am I paying for a mailing fee when I'm just doing a PDF on my phone? Preaching to the choir. here, Jack. Well, Ticketmaster, they end up taking around 30% of the ticket price as a fee. That's a lot. And Taylor gets none of those fees. But wait, there's more. Then ticket resellers sell way above the face value of the initial ticket sale. Which Taylor also gets none of. That's the secondary market. For example, let's head over to Gillette Stadium just outside Boston. Jack, it's like your backyard. You're in the area. You're from the area. Didn't you rip twine once in Gillette Stadium? We did. We finally cross game in Gillette Stadium. It was a highlight. I was on the

bench, but it was great to watch. I was there. I saw you on the bench. You looked fantastic. I appreciate it. I think I waved you twice. Your calves were clearly flexed the whole time. That's half the reason I played lacrosse. Well, I wanted to see how much ticket costs. So I checked out. The cheapest ticket was in Section 318. Is that a good seat? Is that a bad seat? It is the nosebleed sections. It's the furthest away seat in the whole stadium. And how much is the Taylor Swift ticket in the secondary market for Section 318 at Jolette Stadium, some of the worst seats in the house? One ticket is $472. Oh, but wait, Yeti's, there's more.

I added that ticket to the cart and went to the checkout. Then I saw the fees, which added up to $132 for one ticket. So what was the final price of the ticket check? $604. And that's not even the most expensive ticket at Gillette Stadium. It's the worst seat in the stadium. The best seat in the stadium? $22,000.

And like we said, Taylor is getting none of the... that secondary market ticket price. Taylor is the heart and soul of this concert, but so much of the money is going to Ticketmaster. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Ticketmaster? Live Nation has a monopoly on live entertainment. Okay, Yiddies, let's go back to 2010. That's when Live Nation, a publicly traded company, was allowed to acquire Ticketmaster, so like the number one and number two in tickets merge. Live Nation dominates live events, and Ticketmaster dominates tickets for those live events. Get the This. Today, Live Nation, the company, controls 70% or more of primary ticket sales to live events.

Live Nation's dominance in live events is rivaled only by Google's dominance in online search. Great point, Jack, because Live Nation owns and operates 320 performance venues. That's a lot of venues. Taylor Swift couldn't not partner with live events for this tour. And that lack of competition has attracted scrutiny. Like five members of Congress just called on President Biden to invest. the whole Ticketmaster situation and potentially break it all up. But that hasn't threatened Live Nation's powerful profit puppy power. The stock is up from $10 in 2010 when they merged with Ticketmaster to $75 today. So besties, Swifties, we know you are angry about fees.

So are we. We hate a feeocracy. Ticketmaster doesn't care because Live Nation has a monopoly on live entertainment. For our second story, there simply aren't enough houses in the United States of America. No, there aren't. So one Airbnb co-founder is selling tiny houses to build in your backyard. Okay, Jack, play date, let's say, 1996, childhood movie that is cool and fun, but like, but extremely kind of scary, too. Honey, I shrunk the kids.

Honey, I shrunk the kids. Rick Moranis deserved an Oscar for that, by the way. I've had nightmares about dust pans ever since. Airbnb just did the same thing, but for houses. Yet he's back in 2016. Airbnb launched a tiny homes division. Tiny homes division to help homeowners build little homes in their backyard. Airbnb had a market insight.

People love these tiny adorable homes. So let's get some of these backyard bungalows on Airbnb. People are Instagramming them up. The host can literally see their guests while they're cleaning their dishes. Well, just this year, one of Airbnb's co-fathers, took this little home division and spun it out into a new separate startup. That separate startup, that's not part of Airbnb, it is called Samara. They're not renting tiny homes on Airbnb anymore.

No, now they're selling tiny homes in California. Think of this, Yetis, as a mail-order tiny home. Jack, that's exactly what this is. You send $300,000 to this company. You get a customizable mail-order 500-square-foot tiny home, and then you get someone who's more talented than you to build. build the thing. Yeah, they build the thing for you. It's got a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a washer and dryer. The only thing this doesn't include is a succulent.

Yeah, it's B.Y.O. Succula. Yeah, well, Samara, they build with an assembly line style to keep cost low, and then they ship this thing to you, like literally in the mail. Now, we were curious, $300,000 for this thing? Yeah. For a tiny home, Jack, that is a big number. The price per square foot is not great, but there is a market for these tiny homes. Because, Yetis, we have a nationwide housing shortage, Jack, and you whip up the whiteboard for us over there. According to the United States Census, in the last 10 years, the number of households in America has grown by 12 million. However, the number of homes actually built only grew by 7 million. That's 5 million American households that need a house.

That's a real estate math that just doesn't add up. And it's resulted in spiking prices of homes. Now, an economics professor would tell us that rising home prices, should attract tons of new home construction and then we'll reach equilibrium soon. Now, it has attracted new home construction, but not fast enough. And that's because of NIMBY, NIMBY, which stands for not in my backyard. People who already have homes don't want housing developments in their neighborhood. They're afraid it could affect their home presence.

Which is why they're NIMBY, not in my backyard. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Samara? Samara's real insight was turning NIMBY. Into YIMBY. YIMB. As in YIMBY. Y-I-M-B-Y. Yes. In my backyard. Yeah. Right here. Literally in my backyard. Put a house in my backyard. That's YIMB. Let's yimby this thing. Yet these trends have changed in favor of this $300,000 tiny house concept. For example, with increased work from home, a house in the back could be a home office.

With VRBO or Airbnb, the house in the back could become rental income for you. Or if your town loosens permit laws like California has, Separate home could be flipped and sold. We have seen pictures of your backyard barbecue. We like them. There's plenty of room for a whole house back there. Samara's real insight is turning NIMBY into YIMBY. Yeah, right here.

In the backyard. Literally. Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of Yetis don't realize how much prep work goes into this pot. We spend hours every morning jumping in T-boy style to earnings reports, CEO tweets, breaking news headlines. Yeah, Jack and I are toggling. tabs like you've toggled IM Convo's in 2004. Having eight tabs open can be stressful. You don't need that, especially when invested. Robin Hood offers it all in one app. Whether you want to trade

options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or you want to buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood Crypto. You can do it all on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's robinood.com T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve By the way, this podcast is not owned or part of Robin Hood. We are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, Tom Ford, the fashion icon, was just acquired for $2.8 billion. Because Estee Lauder likes the way he smells.

Jack, let's tell a story on this one. Let's go back, Tom Ford, born outside Austin, Texas, 1961. Not your typical Texas cattle rancher, though. No, because Tom, Tom. Ford at age six rearranged all the furniture in his parents' house because he didn't like the way it looked. A year later, he rearranged his mom's hair. He gave her a new hairdo because he didn't like the way it looked. This prodigy decided to move to New York City to learn fashion and then he moved to Italy to really learn about fashion. Ultimately, this guy took over Gucci, the Italian fashion icon. We saw in the movie

House of Gucci, spoiler. And Tom Ford came back to start his own fashion house, which he named. Tom Ford. He didn't stop there. No, didn't. He wrote two books. Both bestsellers. He then directed two feature movies. Both Oscar nominated. Oh, and that Jay-Z song called Tom Ford? Yeah, Jack. It's named after him. The only thing this guy hasn't designed is like a mattress, mattress, mattress.

As if his resume wasn't good enough, he now just officially became a billionaire. Because here's the news. Tom Ford just sold Tom Ford to Estee Lauder for $2.8 billion. Tom Ford is one part Hansel, one part James Bond, and one part Jungle Tiger. I just made that third one up. Okay, yet he's $2.8 billion. Jack and I were fascinated about this deal because it's actually the biggest fashion deal of 2022. It's not about Tom Ford's fashion, though.

It's about Tom Ford's perfume. It's not about what you see. We notice it's about what you smell. What excites New York City-based Estee Lauder about Tom Ford? It's not the fashion brand's famous. famous suits or their famous gowns either. No, what excites Estee Lauder to drop $2.8 billion for Tom Ford, it's his fragrance business. Yes.

Critics rank Tom Ford's perfumes as the top perfumes in the world. And Jack, just because you're fantastic at pronouncing these things, can you name and whip up a couple of those perfumes for us over there? A couple of the top ones are black orchid and tuscan leather. And we're talking about cologne that sounds like a 90s romance novel. Yeah, Black Orchid and Tuscan leather. Tom Ford realized that perfume is all about the brand. So Tom Ford added an edge to all his colognes that would like scare Christian Dior.

The latest cologne he designed is called effing fabulous. It's called effing fabulous. It's a controversial perfume. And how did that perform, Jack? Well, one ounce goes for 240 bucks. So Tom Ford sold $25 million worth of this one cologne. A one ounce bottle is the smallest bottle you've ever seen. Like we said, you're not buying a perfume.

You're buying a brand. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy, Tom Ford? For perfume, the rules of economics are backwards. Yeah, these people love themselves a bargain. Like our buddy, Timmy, he's going to brag to us when he finds a good bargain. Oh, Timmy, you joined Costco. Good for you. Well, for certain luxury goods, it's the opposite.

You brag because it was so expensive. You brag because it was expensive. Which brings us to American economist, Torsden, Vablund who noticed this strange conspicuous consumption situation. For certain luxury items, the higher the price, the higher the demand. Now, Jack, that does not make sense. Like, does not compute kind of a thing. You want the price to be higher. Makes no sense. Perfume is one of these items. You buy it because it is so expensive. And then you show it off as a status symbol. That phenomenon, like with perfume, is called the Vablin effect. So this Tom Ford fashion

acquisition, it's all about fragrance. And it defies the laws of economics. It smells like veblen effect. Jack, can you and that black orchid aroma whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Ticketmaster wasn't ready for all the swifties,

but honestly, it just doesn't care. Because Live Nation, they got a monopoly on live events. For our second story, an Airbnb co-founder started a backyard tiny house startup. It's all about the YIMBY. Yeah, in my backyard. Right here. Yeah. In my backyard.

Right right over there. Let's do it over there. And our third and final story is Tom Ford. The brand just sold to Estee Lauder for $2.8 billion. And now Tommy Ford, the man is a billionaire. Because with perfume, economics are backwards. Smells like the Vepelin effect. Now time for the best fact yet. This one's sent in by legendary tweeting Yeti, Jason Raymond Werner from lovely Portland, Oregon. Plymouth. Let's do it. Besties. We all know and love the at sign so prevalent across email addresses and social networks.

But did you know, America might just have the lamest name for it? What does ad sign even mean? Well, the Italian word for it means snail. Hebrew meaning, strutal. Dutch meaning, monkey's tail. I'm partial to Bosnia's crazy A myself. Although, the Bulgarian meaning of badly written letter hits it right on the nose. Okay, look at the ad symbol right now. I'm looking at it right now. There's so much potential for good nickname. It literally, it looks like it's not even meant to be a symbol.

It looks like it's meant to be a piece of art. Jason is absolutely right. By the way, in German, they call this thing an afenchfans, which does mean monkey tail. Feels like maybe the Yetis should rename the ad symbol. That's an idea. Yeties, you'll look fantastic today. And remember, to help grow this pod, all you got to do is turn to that buddy next to you

and say, hey, H-Y-H-T-O-Y. Have you had the best one yet? If you know, you know. And before we go, happy birthday to Alice Martel, a Philly fanatic on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, who happens to be my mom. Alice, she's a powerful force of love and appreciation for this show. And she gave me life.

She's got great style. She does have great style. Thank you, Jack. And a happy birthday to Caden, turn in 10, down in Houston. And congratulations and happy birthday to Lisa Capps, who's hiking in Peru for her birthday. And Delpha Carpenter, happy birthday down in D.C. Good luck on those law school applications.

And happy 25th birthday to Morgan Gutenberger down to Dallas, Texas. And Holly Broiga, happy 40th in Grimes, Iowa. Happy birthday to Brett Addington in Louisville, Kentucky. And Robert Nodine, happy birthday eating cake for breakfast in Jacksonville, Florida. And William Nutt, a legendary Yeti, found a slamming salmon sushi roll down in Gainesville, Florida. Even better would be slamming salmon salmon. Sishimi. If you know, you know. This is Jack, Nick, and I both own stock of Airbnb and Robin Hood.

Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of you listen to our show while you're driving. Two hands on the wheel. Keep it 10 and 2. You might be cruising, Chris, no rush. Stay in the right lane. Or you might be doll lane from Duncan, dotting from lane to lane. And there are different drivers on the road. They're different investors too. Maybe you're cruising down the long-term lane with stock investing, or maybe you're a more advanced full speed trader. Well, the Robin Hood app helps put you in the driver seat wherever you're at

in your investing journey. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood.