The Best One Yet - 🤓 “Ivy League-ish” — Harvard’s profit puppy. eBay’s all-time-high. Trickle Down AI-nomics. IBO = Initial Baby Offering.

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Harvard’s biggest profit puppy? Executive Education… They’re stretching the Crimson to earn some cash.eBay stock is (shockingly) at an all-time high… Because eBay now tracks “enthusiasm” as an official metric.Microsoft is spending $120 billion this year on AI servers… with that $ it could buy all 30 NBA teams. Plus, we’ve got an IBO announcement… an Initial Baby Offering.$EBAY $MSFT $METAWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Skateboard 🛹Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.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: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks 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. Welcome back. It is Monday, August 4th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Jack, I ate a live shrimp.

I ate a live shrimp. It was alive. Dude, that's horrifying. I would never do that. You know, they handed to me. It was kind of peer pressure. Everyone was looking to me at the restaurant. I kind of had to eat it.

Nick, the only thing that separates us from animals is we don't eat live prey. But you no longer fall into that. category. You can feel the muscles moving. It's kind of a fun flex. Yeah, it is we got three fantastic stories for you for today's show. Jack, what do we got on the team boy? For our first story, as Harvard battles attacks from Trump, it's leaning more on its secret profit puppy, executive education. Because online courses are where the Ivy League crushes cash. For our second story, guess who stock is at an all-time high right now? Who, Jack? eBay. eBay. eBay. The 29-year, year old e-commerce pioneer is stronger than ever. It's the Tom Cruise of tech, Jack, because eBay tracks a

wild metric, enthusiasm. And our third and final story, Microsoft is spending enough money on AI data centers to buy every single team in the NBA. But every dollar they spend is a dollar someone else earns. So Jack and I will tell you about that someone else. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mixes stories. Love the mix today, Jack. Figma had a record-setting IPO last week. An initial public offering. But here at T-boy, we're about to announce something much bigger. An IBO.

Initial baby offering. That's right, Yetis. Here's the news. Nick's family is expecting another child, their second baby. Well, our prospect is for a brand new little baby. And that baby is expected this quarter. We're going to have a Q3 kid, Jack. Big quarter for babies.

I've known for a couple months. It's been hard to keep this a secret, but Nick was ready to share, so very excited for you guys. Oh, big moment, Jack. It's a big moment for you and Molly. You're basically, no, you're literally going to grow your family by 33%. True, we already have a two-year-old son. Little Maxie is going to be a big bro.

I think he's finding out through this podcast right now, Jack. Now, Nick, all the Wall Street analysts want to know. Uh-huh. When is this baby hitting the markets? Well, Jack, the due date is in September, so it is, it is. coming up for those analysts. Is there a consensus analyst forecast on the gender? Jack, that is currently material non-public information. Got any leaks on the name at least? You know, we're in the name-storming process right now with the bankers, so comment with your ideas. We will take them

into consideration. How short is the short list of names? We're big fans of two syllables. Yeah, this is T-boy family's fifth pod child coming. We're very excited. It is the fifth initial baby offering that we have covered on this show. Now, so far, it's all pod sons. True. Maybe we'll get our first pod daughter. Fingers crossed. We will update you when we know more, Yetis.

Yettys, thank you for being there with us for all this exciting news. We can't wait for this IBO. Everyone's getting to share. Get to work on that passinette. It doesn't assemble itself. I already texted a task rabbit. Jack, let's sit out through stories. Fifteen years before this song,

two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a close to close. storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. That's 80%. That's a fat tip. T-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, Harvard University's financials reveal the surprise business model of the Ivy League that nobody tells you about. Executive education and non-degree certificates bring in 42% of Harvard's tuition revenue. Whoa, that is a big number. 42%. 42%. But Yeties, right now, the headline news.

America's oldest academic institution versus the Trump administration. It's the biggest cultural showdown of the year, and it's still ongoing. Billions of government funding have been halted to the school. The Trump administration alleges anti-Semitism at Harvard, but it's also demanding oversight of all the faculty that the university hires. And now Basti's Harvard, unlike some other, Ivy League institutions has resisted Trump's demands so far. But the lack of government funding puts pressure on Harvard's other funding sources. So we dove in T-boy style to their other funding sources. Jack, what happens to be the part of Harvard University that's the most profitable? It's not undergrads. No. It's not university merch. No. And it's not the Harvard versus Yale

football game. No, no, no, no. Their profit puppy is actually a specific program at Harvard's graduate school. Executive education. Executive training, continuing education, both online and in person, those are Harvard's real profit puppies. And they are printing crimson cash, baby. Last week, Bloomberg went deep with this headline. Executive education for non-traditional students brought in $600 million of revenue for Harvard last year. That is up three X from 20 years ago. It now makes up 9% of Harvard's total revenue and 42% of tuition and fees. Oh, Jack, you just went full goodwill hunting on those numbers. And the reason this is a shocker is that this program is probably the least Harvard-y

of Harvard's businesses. But interestingly, with Trump squeezing finances, the businessy part of Harvard has become more important than ever. Now, let's sprinkle on some context. The programs we're talking about are courses you can take at Harvard, but you don't end up with the degree at the end, you end up with a certificate. Some of these are one-week retreats paid for by your company, and some of them are simply set up for celebrities. Tyra Banks took one of these. In fact, how many celebrities have you seen standing next to that Harvard Business School sign

to flex that they were like a guest lecturer or whatever? We see you chanting, Tatum. You already had 12 abs. Now you went to Harvard. Now, even though it's not a degree, you get a certificate instead, you still put it on your resume, don't you, Nick? But Jack, speaking of Goodwill hunting, can we dive into the price numbers, please? The price of these certificates is around $10,000 per students, even though you're only on campus for a few days. And why is it a profit puppy exactly? There is no financial aid for the senior vice president of Verizon. They're coming full tuition. Harvard charges full price. But yet he's fascinatingly, it's not just the in-person Harvard courses we're talking about, it's also the online ones. You might have noticed the number of

people listing the word Harvard in their education section of their LinkedIn is soaring. Because right now, Harvard Business School's online certificates have 42,000 people enrolled with them. Compare that to just 2,000 people for the full-time in-person MBA program. And you know what? It's not just Harvard cashing in on its cachet right now, is it, Jack? The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania built a campus in San Francisco, the other side of the country, just for this executive education. Yeah, Jack and I've been there. That's what it's mainly used for. Northwestern, their Kellogg School. They got a thousand students in the full-time business school, 22,000 in continuing ed. So the ratio is like 20 to one. For every one student there in person

for the degree, there's 20 people, mostly online, getting the certificate. And honestly, pretty impressive, Jack, that they've scaled education to teach so many people about business, people who are ambitious and want to learn more. People who are investing in themselves to learn more to do better at their job. But as we two have both noticed, Being a business school, there is a tagener, right? Like, a lot of full-time MBAs think expansion hurts the degree's reputation. LL. Cool J brags about going to HBS, but he was there for a four-day course, Nick. At least write us a song about it, LL. Come on, man.

So Jack wants the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone packing the cat, haven't yet? Brands are like balloons. You can blow them up, but eventually they might pop. Yeties, what Harvard is really doing is something many luxury companies do. They're simply testing the limits of their brand. They're trying to find the balance between maximizing revenue and maintaining exclusivity. You see, Harvard, it's a luxury product, and we see luxury fashion doing this all the time. Ralph Lauren must be exclusive so that their core customers are willing to pay a high price.

But Ralph Lauren actually has twice as many factory stores as it has regular stores. It's a similar model with Ivy League schools and their executive education programs. The schools are stretching the brand out like a balloon. Now balloons are fragile and balloons can pop, but even luxury brands, no, they got to test the limits. For our second story, eBay, the oldest e-commerce tech companies selling business just hit an all-time high stock price. eBay has survived the Amazon era by thriving where Amazon doesn't. Okay, if we're going to talk eBay, I know you've been, you've been itching to tell us about this eBay story. What's going on? What do you've been buying these days, dude?

Two weeks from Saturday, I have a wedding. where the dress code for men is bolot ties. So I found a bolot tie in eBay. And dude, it's got a tiger's eye, which is one of the coolest rocks. I used to be a rock collector. Jack, are you trying to steal attention away from the groom? They said bolotie.

So I'm just trying to fit in. Feels like a fit in slash flex, but I like it, Jack. Yeah, it is eBay. It is the OG pioneer of e-commerce. And eBay actually became famous, thanks to the Beanie Baby. Get this. At one point, 10% of eBay transactions

were for Beanie Beanie. baby stuffed toys. Bucky the Bieber was for sale for $492 on eBay, and that's how people discovered eBay in the 90s. But besties, eBay even owned iconic tech brands you still know and love today. Did you know that PayPal and Stubhub were once eBay brands, but they got spun out and sold at some point? Well, next month, eBay turns 30 years old.

So you would be shocked to hear that eBay's stock just hit an all-time high. Because when you think of eBay, you think pre-Y2K. It's an ancient company in tech years. And yet, the way we think of it, it's like the Tom Cruise of Tech. It's 63 and crushing it. I'm sorry, Jack. Let me rephrase that. It's the Nicole Kidman of e-commerce.

58 years old doing her best work right now. Although. No although. No although, Jack. No although. And Bestie's one reason for this is because eBay is a trade war haven. Collectors items, pre-owned gems. Those aren't subject to tariffs because they're getting shipped to you by some guy in Kansas.

You can't tariff a beanie baby. that's from 1998. But a bigger reason for eBay stock being up 50% so far this year, it's specialization. Specialization. Because if eBay tried to be an online everything store like Amazon, it would just be squashed like a cardboard box. So instead, eBay is focused where Amazon isn't in specialty categories. Hokemon cards, vintage cars, vintage car parts, even the trademark to Firefest, they've all been sold on eBay. eBay just announced that their trade Cating cards, didn't just experience growth. Experience growth acceleration for the 10th straight quarter.

What about premium vintage? That's a booming category on eBay now as well. Chapel Rhone was dressed from head to toe in pre-owned stuff she got on eBay at the Met Gala. But then eBay has gone further. They've now invested in technology for all these specialized areas. Yeah, they have security measures to authenticate high ticket items and bring peace of mind to the buyer and the seller.

And eBay's gone even further than that. they've launched eBay live to get into media. eBay will go to a collector's convention and bring up like a tiger's eye and sell it in a live auction that you can stream online. It's like antique road show, but it's streaming on eBay.

The result, Amazon sells millions of versions of billions of things. eBay sells ones of a kind. Stick that on a pillowjack and sell it on eBay. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at eBay? New metric alert. enthusiasm. Yeties, at our live show the other week in Chicago, we noticed something about our audience. Relentless enthusiasm. Apparently it's not just Yeties and besties, though. True. Because eBay actually

uses the word enthusiasm as an official metric in their earnings reports. Like a tech financial metric. Get this. They've got 16 million enthusiastic buyers, which is defined as people who bought six things and spent $800 in the last. six months. eBay's focus on specialization has attracted special customers who have particular loyalty. And that love has given eBay clearance to charge fees on track for $2 billion a profit just this year. eBay is the first company we've seen, quantify enthusiasm. And that tells the story of the entire business model. I love you, Nicole Kidman. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, there's a strange phenomenon going on. The more big tech spends on AI, the more investors love them.

And then there's trickle-down AI-nomics, because their spending is someone else's earning. And we'll tell you who's earning. But Jack, in order to describe this scene, do you remember the movie from Father of the Bride when they're spending on the wedding? And like, he's getting the bill, and it's like the flowers, the flowers, the food, the open bar, all the costs are adding up. Yeah, what's that actor's name? He's a silver fox now. It was Steve Martin. It was Steve Martin. I feel like that was big tech's earnings theme last week. Get in the bill for the wedding. Except instead of being upset and nervous like Steve Martin,

investors are loving it. Yet he's last week, meta, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon, the biggie of the techies, each announced that they're spending insane amounts on AI. But it's interesting. Each of those big tech companies are buying data servers and investing in engineers with a different AI goal. Meta is focused on AI for consumers. Microsoft is focused on AI for businesses. Amazon is focused on AI for robotics. And Apple, are you doing the car? What's going on over there, guys? They're not doing a car. But strangely, the more and more these fantastic four companies spend on AI, the more and more they get rewarded by Wall Street. Microsoft spent $30 billion this past quarter on data servers to compute AI. Okay, Microsoft is on pace to spend $120 billion this year on all that AI stuff.

With $120 billion in spending, Microsoft could have bought Nike. Or they could have bought all 30 NBA teams, Jack. We repeat, with Microsoft's budget to buy data servers this year, instead, they could buy all 30 NBA franchises. The whole league. Yeties, Microsoft is burning. and through cash like a data center with no cooling. And Wall Street is parting like it's a wedding with an open bar.

Franz! But best is this is what we found fascinating about this story. Wall Street was loving every minute of it. Microsoft stock jumped 10% after their earnings last week to hit a $4 trillion valuation for the first time ever. And then the same thing happened over at Meta. Yeah, Zuckerberg said he will spend $100 billion on capital expenditures for AI next year.

He could buy all the NBA teams too. In meta-stock, it rose 11% after that announcement. It's insane. Zuck said he's spending $100 billion, and then Wall Street increased the value of his company by almost $200 billion. And why is this illogicalness happening to us right now, Jack? Because even though the spending on CAPX is growing rapidly,

revenue growth is growing even more rapidly. That's right. Despite all those splurges, we mentioned, META and Microsoft also announced their best ever second quarter of profits ever. Meta's insane consumer tech apps and Microsoft's insane business tech apps are funding beyond insane spending on AI for the future. I guess Bill Gates is the father and his father and the bride. I see it. I see it, Jack.

So what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in big tech? Their spending is someone else's revenue. Yeties, the under-the-radar winners of this economy? It's the entire AI supply chain that you never think about. They're selling the shovels to the big tech companies who are doing the AI gold rush. Top of the list, the AI chip makers like AMD and Invidia. But all those chips have to go into servers, which are built by super microcomputer and Dell. But Jack, all those servers need utility lines and power plants, which are another booming sector related to AI.

Besties, in the next year, the top five AI, companies will spend $400 billion on capital expenditures. We have to sprinkle on some context here. Big Tech is driving a literal economic stimulus with that money. Because $400 billion in spending, that's half the size of the 2009 recovery bill that Congress passed to get us out of the financial crisis. To boost the entire economy. We're talking five companies spending money on a level of like the entire United States

government. And the result is what Jack and I call. trickle down AI-nomics. Their cap-ex spending is someone else's earning. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Harvard University generates 42% of its tuition and fees from non-degree executive education programs. The profit puppies.

Brands, they are like balloons. You can blow them up, but they also can pop. For our second story, eBay stock is at an all-time high as they've specialized in places that Amazon won't touch. And it's turned customer-enthusband. into a metric that's also at an all-time high. And our third and final story, Big Tech is getting rewarded for all their AI splurging.

The more they spend, the higher the stock price. And it's also an example of trickle-down AI-nomics. Their spending is someone else's revenue. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, President Trump fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics after a weak jobs report came out for July. Here's the data that Trump didn't like.

The U.S. economy only added 106,000 jobs combined in the last three months. Which would be our worst three-month stretch in years, and President Trump didn't like seeing that. Now, the woman Trump fired was appointed by Joe Biden, and Trump said, without evidence, that she's been manipulating the data. It's troubling news that could make America look more like China, where the data looks more like propaganda. For our second story, if you have a Rolex watch on your Christmas list, you may not be getting it anymore. Yeah, Friday was tariff day, and President Trump shocked Switzerland with a 39% tariff was bigger than most people expected. And yes, watch retailers have said that they will pass on watch tariffs into the prices that we pay. So for this Christmas, maybe it's more of like a buy now, half the watch for Christmas, half the watch for your birthday, pay later kind of a situation.

And finally, the NFL and ESPN are on the verge of a blockbuster deal that would make Babe Ruth blush. ESPN would acquire the NFL Red Zone channel and the NFL network. And then bundle both of those football channels into their ESPN streaming app. The official announcement is expected later this week, so we'll update you on the deets and let you know what happens to ESPN the Ocho. Now time for our best fact yet, which, because it's Monday, means T-Boy trivia. Jack, what do we got today? What product has been referenced in more rap songs than any other product?

We repeat, this product has more name drops in rap than any other brand. Snoop name drops it. Nas name drops it. JZ name drops it. Honestly, this product is the only thing Kendrick Lamar and Drake actually agree on. Here's a clue to the product we're referring to. We're actually going to do a fill in the blank. This is a lyric from a Tupac song.

Forget that gin and juice. Just pour me a glass of that blank. And here's a lyric from a Kendrick Lamar song. I used to sit blank with jealousy in my bones trying to keep up, but I only got alone. So what is that blank? What is the most popular brand mentioned in wrap? Drop an answer in the comments and we'll reveal it tomorrow. Yeties, you look fantastic today.

And if you're a new listener, we'd love to hear from you. First, tap to follow the show so you get us every day. But then tap the survey that we have in today's episode description. We have a new listener survey that's going to always be in the show notes. and we'd love to learn more about you and how you found the show. It only takes two minutes. And if you don't know what an IBO is because you're new to the show, well... It's an initial baby offering.

It's an initial baby offering. Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti, Emma Semenovsky from New York City, who's had an annual T-boy shout-out tradition for so many years now. Anna, fantastic to have you with us as a Yeti. Happy 30th birthday to Clarissa in San Diego, California. And Coach Weber's got the 10-year anniversary as the head wrestling coach in Erie Kansas getting them in that chicle. There you go, coach.

You know, I can still do a figure four leg lock from my WWF fan days. I think the lacrosse team's bigger than that, Jack. Congratulations to Brady Johnson for the promotion and relocation to Canada. This is a long-time Yeti, who's converted so many people in the office to listen. Love those H-YH-TVOIs. Oh, and besties, I'm heading to Santa Cruz for the first time this weekend. If anyone's got some recommendations, let us know. We'll love to add him to the list.

And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the win. This is Jack. I own stock in Amazon, and Nick and I both on stock in Apple.