The Best One Yet - 💒 “It’s Wedding Season, kid” — Bed Bath & Beyond’s registry drama. The Athletic’s $550M power play. Adam Neumann’s sneaky WeLife.

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

You’re prepping for the biggest wedding season in 40 years… but Bed Bath & Beyond’s legendary wedding registry business just hit a historic problem (you’re marrying other retailers). The New York Times just made its biggest acquisition in 30 years because The Athletic is Lifestyle & Listening. And WeWork’s Adam Neumann is up to something new — it might be WeLive.$BBBY $NYT $WEGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformLearn 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. And this is snacks daily. It is Friday. The real Friday. January 7th. Today's pod. It's the best one yet.

It's a TVOI. Whiplash. It's your cute. There we go, baby. Works every day. Works every day. First story, what do we got? The New York Times is making their biggest acquisition in 30 years.

What is it for? The Athletic. The Times, though, it's not a newspaper anymore. It is a listening and lifestyle guide. For our second story, Bed Bath and Beyond just reported bad earnings. But that's not the worst part. No, you broke up with their wedding registry before the biggest wedding season in years. For our third and final story, WeWorks Adam Newman refuses to just go away.

Update Jack and I found Adam Newman is sneakily purchased over 4,000 apartments. Is he a mega landlord? Or is he trying to bring back the next incarnation of We Live? I feel like that deserves like a don't, don't on. But Snackers, before we hit that wonderful mix. Perfect mix to go into the weekend. Just this week, we informed you about sweet green salad, subscription service.

Jack, I remember, well, you pay $10 a month. You get $3 off your bowl every single day. Aruca la. For every yin, there's a yang, though. There is a bane to every Batman. For every cupcake, there's a kale. Ah, but today's snackers, Taco Bell, they just unveiled. The Taco Bell Taco Lovers Pass.

We're talking a daily taco subscription. You're paying $10 a month for a daily taco. And you get your choice of seven of their lowest cost tacos. You want to hit the menu on this? You can get a crunchy taco, soft taco, spicy potato. soft taco, Doritos Loco, or three others. Yeah, so this basically cancels out that whole sweet green harvest bowl that you also consumed.

Yeah, ground beef. It's going to counteract the curd cauliflower. Jack, this time's up perfectly with your New Year's resolution to find a balance in your life. Yeah, sweet greens was about the New Year's resolution to like get healthy. It was. This is for balance. It is.

For every broccoli, you're going to want a barbecue. Can we talk about the problem here? A blatant problem here? There's only one taco a day. Who's eating one taco a day? You know, Cosmo Kramer got. A cafe latte. You got one cafe latte.

You don't take one sip of a Michelada and you don't eat just one Alpasteur. Everyone knows tacos are eating in threes. Second taco, that should be free after midnight. At Taco Bell, if you make this a two Taco a day subscription. I like this. That's a Taco Lovers, Lovers Pass. And then we're in, baby. Also, don't even ask if guacks include it.

It's extra. Have some respect. Let's set out of three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something illegal out the way. The snacks about to hear rain food. is air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or

sale of a security. Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC, member Fenra slash SIPC. For our first story, big acquisition yesterday, the New York Times is acquiring The Athletic for $550 million. Because the New York Times is lifestyling itself. It is. The New York Times, not just a newspaper anymore. Also publicly traded stock. It's one of the few news organizations thriving, both editorially and financially.

Okay. And this New York Times stock, it has tripled in the last five years. While everyone's talking about media struggling, news struggling, even though you hate the word media, Jack. What is media? What is media? But investors are excited about the New York Times' big goal. 10 million digital paying subscribers by 2025. Yeah, the New York Times, they're not going to rely on ads anymore.

They really just want subscribers. They have 8 million already. They're well on their way, but they just acquired another 1 million subscribers. Because the New York Times is making its biggest acquisition since they bought the Boston Globe back in 1993. The Athletic. The Athletic. It is kind of the opposite of the New York Times, Jack. It's not big and broad.

It's small and narrow. This is a venture-backed new media startup that is completely. focused on sports. 1.2 million people pay for access to the Athletic Sports Journalists. Exactly. They're doing like, you know, deep dives on a mock NBA draft. They have a ton of podcasts and news articles. Jack, they got like 30 hours of content on the status of Derek Henry's foot injury. They have six podcasts on the bench players for the Atlanta Hawks. Now, the athletic is getting a whopping half a billion dollars in cash, pure cash for this New York Times acquisition. And that's a great capstone for the athletics founding team after seven years.

So, Snackers, we know what you're thinking. How did the athletic achieve this exit so big, so quickly, how would they put it? Let's use their words. Because they're grimy. They are. They're a little aggressive. In 2017, the athletics founders told this to the New York Times, ironically. They said this, Snackers.

We will wait every local newspaper out and let them continuously bleed until we are the last one standing. They went on to say, we will suck them dry of their best talent at every moment. local newspapers. It's like they spent their seven years training under Bill Belichick. This acquisition's kind of tough to swallow. It's kind of mean to swallow. Because the New York Times is rewarding that cutthroat business model. And Nick and I are big fans of news. We are. And this business model was like attacking the New York Times. So Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies over at the New York Times? The New York Times funds its journalism with lifestyle and listening. Snackers, the New York Times brand.

It's all about its 1700 journalists. It's gothic font and its passion for reporting. Many call journalism the fourth pillar of democracy. But the New York Times. New York Times, it's also got a bunch of games, a bunch of shopping, a bunch of cooking apps, and a lot of podcasts. Nobody calls cooking apps the fourth pillar of democracy. The New York Times. They acquired wirecutter, which helps readers shop online for like holiday gifts. And they launched New York Times cooking, a spelling game, a crossword puzzle that my mom loves to do every morning. And all that, that is non-news.

Those are lifestyle divisions, and those lifestyle divisions are increasingly the source of the New York Times growth. So are podcasts. Yeah. The NYT already has 10. and they're getting 82 more with the athletic. Oh, and the New York Times also acquired Autumn, which transforms text articles into audio articles that you can hear, basically podcasts. And it acquired cereal, the famous like OG podcast company.

And just last month before we went on vacation, the New York Times launched a podcast app. We're not in it yet. No, we're not. But we could be. The New York Times has chosen listening and lifestyle to fund its crucial journalism. With this half a billion dollar acquisition, we're expecting a sports trivia app to come soon. For our second story, this one was a shocker. Bed Bath and Beyond, they just announced some really bad earnings. Even worse? Yes. Bad wedding registries. Okay, but Jack, the people these days?

There's still house hype. We're still spending more time than usual at home. You got the new shower curtain. You got the Nutra Bullet and hey, were you looking at that wall mirror? Are you still into that? Florida ceiling. Florida ceiling. So people spending more on their homes should be good for Bed Bath and Beyond. But Bed Bath and Beyond is getting no love. The stock is down 30. sent in the last year. They just announced that sales fell 28% last quarter. Brutal. The loss grew, and they're closing 200 more stores by the end of the year. But here's what Jack and I find fascinating about Bed Bath and Beyond.

The worst part of their earnings wasn't actually in their earnings. It was actually in a study about wedding registries that came out a few days ago. Yeah. The Investment Bank, Baird did a survey that started back in 2017. In 2017, the first year they did the survey, Bed Bath and Beyond was the top retailer for items on wedding registries. Yeah, and they were 44% of all wedding registries in 2017. 44% of items on wedding registries included a link that went to bedbath and now. And Jack, where is bed bath and beyond now in the wedding industry?

Just 30% of wedding registry items. That is a historic low for that company. Pretty sure it's rule number 76, no excuses play like a champion? Now, Amazon is number one with 45% of all wedding registry items. By the way, where did you register? Did you get the Lucrucette or did you get the stob? I know what you mean. Yeah, the Lucrucette.

Everyone gets the colored lucrucet. Like clay. Orange, blue. Is that a Dutch oven? All I know is that somehow we clicked on too many things and Molly and I ended up with like seven cheese plates accidentally. Well, that happens to every married couple. Very lactose tolerant.

But here's the funny thing, Snackers. Mom always said life was about timing. She told you on the wedding day. This is really bad timing for bedbath and beyond to fall behind in wedding registries. Because 2022 is expected to be the biggest wedding year in the last four decades. According to Wedding Report, which reports on wedding trends, 2.47 million weddings are expected in the U.S. this year. Yeah, because you put off the proposal because of COVID and then you kind of just had to propose because you were living with your girlfriend's family. Quarantines accelerate relationships.

But here's the thing. It isn't just more weddings that are expected in 2022. to. It's more gifts because you're going nuclear on the nuptials. Weddings are expected to have more guests this year. Yeah. Because people are revenge dance floors. And everyone's vaccinated, so you may as well get up there in tanga. Let's hope the boosters keep working. Let's hope Omacron dies.

But people aren't put in Bed Bath and Beyond on their registries like they used to. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Bed Bath and Beyond? You're married to your wedding registry, ironically. Snack, first of all, the wedding registry, it is a literal profit puppy. nothing on the wedding registry that's going to be on sale. It's like the rule of wedding registries. Nothing's on sale. That knife block, your cousin is paying full price for that knife block. But also, a wedding registry becomes key for your milestone moments after the wedding. Okay, Snackers, here's how this goes down. You registered for the duvet for your wedding at

Bed Bath and Beyond. Very nice. Two years later, maybe you're lucky enough to buy a house. You pick Bed Bath and Beyond for the bedding. Two years later, you're having a kid, I don't know, maybe you name them Wilder and they're on the way. You're thinking, Bath and Beyond for baby. Only the best for the Potson. Wedding Registry is a keeper for life. You're married to it. For our third and final story,

do you want to know what happened to WeWorks Adam Newman? He's been buying up a billion dollars of apartments. Is he just a landlord or is he trying to rebuild? We live. Jack and I thought this was a wild story. But also, earlier this week,

we covered Elizabeth Holmes who was convicted of fraud, likely heading to prison. Another techish founder who also has a Hulu documentary about their misdeeds. If you mess up big time, you're going to get a Hulu movie. Adam Newman. Yeah, Adam Newman. WeWorks Adam Newman.

He built up a $47 billion company. WeWork that then completely fell apart in his watch two years ago. They did manage to SPAC last year. They did. It's publicly traded and worth $7 billion now. Now, the difference between Adam Newman and Elizabeth Holmes is that his actions were fraudy-ish, but he wasn't charged with any crimes. To the frottiest point?

Latent conflict of interest. Lated conflict of interest. Get this. All right. So first, he bought buildings and then he leased those buildings back to WeWork at a high price, the company that he was also running. He also trademarked the name Wee. Okay.

And then sold that trademark to his company for $5.9 million. You just can't do that. So when he trademarked Wee, he wasn't working for WeWork at the time. He was working for Adam. It was more MeWork less WeWork. But still, somehow, he didn't face any criminal charges. He didn't go to jail. In fact, he got paid $1.7.7.

billion to walk away. So his reputation is stained. His freedom and bank account, though, are not. All right. So he's still out there. He's still doing stuff. So you want an update in Adam Newman? Jack, can we share the update on Adam Newman? He's not just a free man with $1.7 billion of dirty money. No. He's actually become a shadow landlord. According to the Wall Street Journal, Adam Newman has purchased a billion dollars worth of apartments scattered across the south. We're talking 4,000 departments across cities from like Miami to Nashville. most of those acquisitions in the last year. And bad news from PFWTMs.

Yeah. Adam is trying to shake up the rental housing industry. Yeah. And he's got a theme for this shakeup he's trying to whip up. Yeah. Like 360 everything included living from millennial families. Yeah, we're talking amenities that are like dripping in millennialiness. For example, the building he purchased in National Tennessee.

It has a dog park. Yeah. So your pooch can do a little walk at one. It has a saltwater pool. Because actually, I do hear the saltwater exfoliates. And it has valet trash service. So you don't need to haul it down to the garage. garage. And they've got taps for kombucha because, you know, we work. Adam Newman also in the past year

has invested in a startup called Alfred. Yeah. So this is a concierge service startup. It's basically, would you call it bass, Jack? It's a B-A-A-A-S. Yeah. With Alfred, you can hail some gig person to come to your house and do your laundry. Right. And, you know, they're not going to wear the tuxedo like Alfred, but they're going to act like Alfred. They'll switch your cat's litter. They'll even spruce up your law. Okay. So, Jack, adding all this up on the whiteboard. here. If we pair the two together, first we have a billion dollars worth of apartments with a whole bunch of amenities. Okay. And then we have a concierge service that's going to help you with all those amenities. I'm listening. Okay, so this feels like Adam Newman of WeWork is building a

residential version of a WeWork. Maybe. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for Adam Newman? The end goal of Adam Newman's old WeWork was subscription wife. Snackers, part of WeWorks grand plan years ago that often gets overlooked is we live a residential utopia. We live, watched in some places. It was a co-living situation where you paid one monthly fee, not just for your apartment. No, Jack, you're getting like a fully furnished apartment. And the rent included communal dinners, Wi-Fi, open bars, events in the lobby. Gucci Main attended one of the hangouts.

Adam Newman tried to create one subscription that pays for everything you need in your whole life. Yeah. And this vision even included a school. We grow. To be part of that monthly, We Live subscription. Now, Adam Newman owns 4,000 apartments, and those could be testing grounds for We Live 2.0. A.k.a. 1 subscription life. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us before the weekend?

The New York Times now has a podcast for just about every sports team. They're funding their journalism with lifestyle and listening. Bed Bath and Beyond is falling behind in wedding registries. Which means people are getting married to other retailers. Adam Newman. is on to his next thing, apartments. Yeah, because WeWork's original end goal, it was We Live. Oh, and Adam's not in prison.

Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one tweeted in by Snack Factor, who legendarily just sends a snack fax from St. Pete's, Florida. He sent us a snack fact about the first speeding ticket ever issued. It was way back in 1896 in the United Kingdom. Walter Arnold, easy there, buddy. Take it easy. Jeez.

That lead foot was going. 8 miles per hour. That was a whopping four times the speed limit at the time. Now, he was driving a Benz automobile from Germany. Not Mercedes yet, just Benz. You mean a horseless carriage. That's what they called it on the speeding truck. It was a horseless.

The cop's like, yep, and, uh, no, horsesless car. And guess what? The cop chased him down on a bicycle. Which ironically could go faster than the car. Snackers, you look fantastic today. If you want a cheeseboard, DM me on Instagram. If you want a flannel shirt, DM me on. Instagram. This is true. This is true. Nick and I'll see you Monday. Can't wait.

And before we go, happy belated birthday to Dev, turn in 25 down in New York City. Happy birthday to Juan Carlos Bereson in Caracas, Venezuela. And Jeffrey Cohen, enjoy the Bar Mitzvah in Wellington, Florida. Mazel. Happy birthday to Luxia in New York City. And Clay Green, turning 45 over in Steveville. Happy 38 to Michael in Lake Forest. And Pahrag, enjoy the birthday in Medford, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Eric Longbyam, queer. his job to jump into real estate down in Austin, Texas. Jack Logan Murdoch just bobbed his first home over in San Francisco. Congrats to Sam Hunt, who did the same thing in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Oh, and Alex Bourne got over COVID and is returning to work in the Tauce ski valley. Always wanted to ski there. Invite us over, Alex. Congrats to Brian and Dominique for getting engaged in Chicago. Doing logistics and send us some ring picks. And Alexis H sends in good news that she got that thing on her thigh checked out. And it was totally fine. Yeah. She doesn't need any thytastrasol.

doesn't need it. She does suggest you get your skin things checked out. Because you may need that to Astrosol. This Astrosol may not be for more people. If you have skin rationing for more than six hours, you should consult the doctor. Snackers, whatever you're celebrating today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins this weekend. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. Robin Hood snacks, newsletters, and podcasts reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and do not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are meant for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, cryptocurrency, or investment strategy in any account. This is not an offer or sale of a

security, not a research report, and is not intended to serve on the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc., Robin Hood Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. Dude, I can't believe you pulled that out of the night back. The last part was kind of gibberish. That test straw may cause nightmares, night terrors, night pains,

also pains in your stomach, may taints in your foot, may be it pains in your light. If you have a constable more than five hours, you should consult and doctor.