The Best One Yet - 🕸️ “Joe Rogan vs Neil Young” — Spotify’s spiderman moment. Mark Cuban’s shark drug. Plenty’s $400M salad.

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

Spotify has to choose between Joe Rogan’s podcast and Neil Young’s tunes because with great publishing comes great responsibility (thanks, Uncle Ben). Mark Cuban’s new side hustle is a prescription drug company, but it’s really selling trust. And Plenty raised $400M for its vertical farmed salads because it’s serving lettuce for the year 2052, not 2022.$SPOT $WMTGot 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 Wednesday, January 26th. All right. Yesterday was T-Boy Tuesday. What fictional TV character is going to get Peloton next? Jack, Snacker Mike thinks Homer Simpson couldn't survive a 20-minute peloton burn.

Yeah, there's no way. He'd be done for it. Oh, and Tony, the Snacker, he thinks Ted Lassow is going to have a panic attack during a Diva Soul Ride. Alyssa is wondering if Kenny is still alive in South Park? If he is, he's not anymore. Jack, who killed Kenny? Pelot. And what is this pod?

The best one yet. It's a TV. B.O.I. Jack, what's our first story today? Neil Young threatened to pull his music from Spotify because of Joe Rogan's podcast. Spotify is facing what we're calling the Spider-Man problem. With great platform comes great responsibility. For our second story, Mark Cuban isn't arguing with Barbara on Shark Tank. No, he's not.

We're doing a sidehouse. Yeah, Mark Cuban Cost Plus. That's the company. It's his new prescription drug startup. We jumped in snack style. For our third and final story, Plenty is the company that just raised $400 million to scale. Their indoor vertical fun. Delicious. We're talking arugula up in the air.

I literally just had this for lunch because Plenty isn't feeding you. Plenty is feeding future you. But Snackers, before we hit that fantastic mix of digestible stories. Wild mix today. I really didn't see this coming. We could have covered a Palatonic. The SAT, Nick, how much money does it make every year? Okay, the SAT test.

Is it A, $100,000, B, $100 million, C, $1 billion. Or D, all of the above? or E, none of the above. It's D, it's D. It's all the above if you add it up. Snackers, the SAT, it is a billion dollar annual business. The SAT is a unicorn sitting in the back of the cafeteria watching you sweat through the questions just counting its own cash. But Snackers, the SAT, it's facing a really hard math problem right now.

Sales during the pandemic of the SAT, like registration fees to take the test, they fell by a third. Get this, 76% of colleges and universities aren't going to require the SAT or ACT this year. Must be nice. It's not me. It's you and your algebraic questions that likely have racial and cultural bias baked in. So Snackers, here's the news. Jack and I discover the SAT, it is pivoting.

The SAT is going all digital. That's the news. You take the SAT on the computer now. No more Proctor judging you for having to go to the bathroom again. Oh, and also the SAT, they're coming down the test time from three hours to two. Two hours. Again, must be nice. And they're letting you use the computer and probably the whole internet because you're doing it online. Jack, we totally miss this. The biggest loser here, the number two pencil. What's the number two pencil going to do? I love that graphite. So what Jack and I are trying

to say is if the SAT is walking north at three miles per hour and a train moves in the opposite direction at 60 miles per hour. And it costs B dollars over X days to complete n times. Is it obtuse? Is it acute or is it equilateral? Blank is to blank as blank. is to blank. Jack, the takeaway here? The answer is always seen. 60% of the time, it works every time. Let's hit our 1600 stars. The snacks about the hearing 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. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robberhood Financial, LLC.

member FINRA slash SIPC For our first story While you are rocking in the free world Neil Young has threatened to pull his music from Spotify Because of the Joe Rogan podcast This is what happens when you go from platform to publisher And Spider-Man's involved too But for Snackers, let's go up to Canada

Where it's much stricter on COVID rules than it is in the United States They don't just ask to see your vaccine card To get into like events and restaurants They cross-check that thing closely with your identification card Well, Canada's homegrown son, Neil Young and legendary singer-songwriter, is stepping that up a notch. He's asking to see Spotify's COVID misinformation policy.

We're talking about the tenor voice known for Harvest Moon, Heart of Gold, and, you know, being yelled at by Leonard Skitter in that one song about Alabama. Monday, Neil Young threatened to remove all of his music from Spotify in a very public fashion. Yeah, it's like a hey, hey, my, I've got a problem with Spotify kind of a thing. Okay. Is this the extent of your Neil Young knowledge, or are we going to hear a few more signs? I mean, I've got one more, but I'm going to save it to the takeaway. The reason, Neil Young's trying to pull out of Spotify, Spotify supports Joe Rogan.

And Joe Rogan spreads misinformation on his podcast. And here was Neil Young's ultimatum this week. It was in his open letter to Spotify. He said Spotify, you can have Rogan or Young, but not both. Snackers, this actually goes back to December 31st, because that's one of the episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast dropped before the new year. Now, for context, Joe Rogan Experience is the number one podcast in the world. Think Howard Stern Show, but on podcasts, not radio.

Yeah, the Joe Rogan experience is like six lifts. Yeah, exactly. And on December 31st, they published a conversation between Joe Rogan and renowned vaccine skeptic, Dr. Robert Malone. And health experts have accused Malone of fueling conspiracy theories and making baseless claims, including that hospitals make up COVID diagnoses. And he repeated those baseless claims in the interview with Joe Rogan on December 31st. So these claims were so baseless that YouTube even removed this specific Joe Rogan experience episode.

And the doctor's account has been banned from Twitter. But the episode is still there on Spotify. And get this, Snackers. It is estimated that 11 million people, 11 million human beings, listen to each episode of Joe Rogan's podcast. And this episode, it went viral. In response, 270 alarmed doctors, physicians, and scientists called on Spotify to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on their platform. So Aaron Rogers may be convinced by Rogan's Vax skeptic content, but Neil Young is the opposite of convinced.

So he posted an open letter on his website, which looks like an old school newspaper, by the way. It does, it does. That he wants his music off of Spotify ASAP. Because Neil Young saying by promoting Rogan's podcast, Spotify is promoting COVID misinformation and potentially causing death. As Nick and I were researching the story on Tuesday, funny twist. The open letter was taken down all of a sudden from his website. So Neil Young's music, it's last I heard and I'm checking still on Spotify as of this moment. We're thinking Neil Young's manager probably told near Young, do you know how much money you make on Spotify?

You want to pop on a tour bus like the old days or you want to keep your stuff on Spotify? Yeah, if you take it off Spotify, you need to go on tour again. Hey, Neil, you got to pay that mortgage. We got to find a way. It's better to burn out than it is to fade away. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Spotify? There's no encore here, Nick. No, no, no, there isn't.

Snackers, with great publishing comes great responsibility. Love that Spider-Man line. This isn't just some podcast. The Joe Rogan experience, that is Spotify's baby. It paid a reported $100 million to make Joe Rogan's pod. exclusive to Spotify only. Now here's what we're thinking. If Spotify was just, you know, just a platform, not a publisher, then Spotify could let anyone publish a podcast and anyone just listen to any podcast. It's a platform.

Yeah, Spotify's role as a platform would just be to referee, an even podcast playing field for all to play. But here's the catch. Spotify owns dozens of podcasts and their marketing team and their algorithm have probably like pushed a podcast, maybe even this podcast, to your phone at some point. That means Spotify isn't just a neutral platform. they are a publisher. According to our buddy Uncle Ben, with great publishing comes great responsibility. And you could make the same argument about Netflix. Totally.

It's responsible for the content that they publish and promote. Great point, Chuck. Netflix, they're facing a backlash for offensive jokes in Dave Chappelle's comedy special. And now Spotify is facing a backlash for their host, Joe Rogan, promoting vaccine misinformation. Because when a platform becomes a publisher, it takes on great editorial responsibility. For our second story, Mark Cuban. That Mark Cuban, he's launching an online pharmacy out of nowhere. It's called Mark Cuban Cost Plus.

Mark isn't just selling you medication. He's selling you on how he's selling you medication. Sue shirks. There must be a better way. Guess what? There is. 10% for $50 billion. Actually, Snacker's software billionaire Mark Cuban.

He's launching an online pharmacy for generic drugs. Honestly, we didn't see this coming. All the news reports about Mark Cuban cost plus say the same thing. You can get a 30-day supply of drugs for $40 with Mark instead of $1,000 at your CBS. Now, we're talking about generic drugs, you know, something for like acid reflux, inflammation, migraines. The kind of drugs that you see in the commercials if you're watching cable. If you've got CBS on, you've seen commercials for these.

Those are actually the brand name. You don't see the generic versions that Mark is selling. Right. He's not selling Prozac. He's selling like the generic version, same ingredients. of Prozac. Right. And this isn't that new. Generics have always been way cheaper than the brand name version you see on TV. So Mark's drug startup is a pharmacy benefit manager. It cuts out the middleman in order to offer 100 generic medications at a lower price. But if you have decent health insurance,

like 92% of Americans do, you're probably not paying that $1,000 anyway, just a small copep. But Snackers, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about Mark Cuban cost plus the startup. The radical transparency on price. Freakishly radical transparency. Get this, Snackers. Mark Cuban Cost Plus, they reveal how much profit they're making on every drug and they publish it and they tell you. And actually, they kind of just scream it at you. It's right there on the website. They show that the price you pay with Mark Cuban is the cost from the manufacturer. Okay. Plus a few bucks of labor. Adding it up. Plus 15% as a profit markup. So Jack and I jumped in Snacks style to their website. And let's take an example here. The price of a cancer

treating drug imatinib that they show on their website? Jack, what's the price everywhere else? They show you that you have to pay $2,500 bucks if you go to CVS if you don't have insurance. For that cancer treating drug. But Jack, for Mark Cuban Cost Plus, how much are they selling that drug for? $17.10. And they even break down that $17.10 into the part that is for the manufacturing of the pills, the part that's for the labor of the pills, and the part they're keeping it as a price. They literally tell you they're like $12. That $17.10 goes to the ingredients that go into the bill. $3 are for our employees and $2.10 is the profit to Mark Cuban Cost Plus.

Because Mark has got to buy some jerseys for the team. He's going to need that profit. But this is why it's called Mark Cuban Cost Plus. They charge you the cost plus 15%. That's it. Ifso facto, Mark Cuban cost plus. Next up for Mark, they're going to manufacture medications too. They're planning a factory just out.

side of Dallas. Mark Cuban. He is now a pharmacist, basically. That's what he's doing. Got to get this guy a lap coat. And he also owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. He does. So they're probably going to put a pharmacy right in the arena. And here's what we're thinking. Maybe you get the chili dog in the first half of the game, but then you get a prescription for the heartburn medication in the second half of the game. Mark's doing the old double dip. If you know, you know. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy, Mark Cuban and Mark Cuban Cost Plus? Price isn't a competitive advantage. It's just not, but trust can be. Snackers, here's what Jack and I are thinking. Mark Cuban isn't selling you pills. Mark Cuban is selling you trust. You know who's not trusted right now, Nick?

Who's not? The entire healthcare industry in the United States. Health care. The worst. Mark Cuban Cost Plus doesn't just publish their profit. They also show you a picture of the drug of the pill that you're going to get in the map before you buy it. So you know exactly what to expect before they end up sending you the generic Thytastrasaw prescription. And instead of a corporate logo and some random name, it's Mark Cuban on the website. There's pictures of his face. We can't emphasize this enough.

His name is literally in the name of the company, Mark Cuban Cost Plus. Now, competitors like Hymns and Hers, Roman, capsule, and basic generic companies, they can match Mark Cuban on price for these drugs. And that is why Mark Cuban is selling trust instead. And that's why his face is all over the website. For our third and final story for your Wednesday, Plenty. The Vertical Farm, they just raised a whopping $400 million for their vertical veggies.

Plenty's value isn't as compelling today, honestly, as it will be in 2050. Snackers, Plenty. This is a unicorn startup doing vertical farming. We're talking a unicorn salad company. There isn't that much information about plenty, but there's plenty of information on vertical farming in general. Instead of land where you're planning like, you know, one layer of plants, John, dear. vertical farming, they're planting layers of plants. Right. This is the story of Manhattan.

They started building up because they ran out of space. It's the same concept with vertical farming. You got stacks of undive and little gems like 10 stories high, bathing and fake sunlight. Or they could just put glass on the ceiling and let it be real sun. They could. It kind of looks like a rave though, Jack. You know, when you walk around, the employees have to wear sunglasses everywhere because it's like so bright.

It's so bright. Right, because they have to put like columns of light going down the eight floors worth of plants. It looks like a rave. It looks like the matrix, but like the opposite of the matrix, if you know what I mean. And here's the cool thing about having eight stories worth of arugula. You can water the top layer of arugula and the excess water drips down and waters the plants below. Gravity is like an extra employee. Onions have layers. Arugula does now too. Oh, and that arugula? It's not afraid of heights. So it's not. Now, vertical farms tend to be in like warehouses in or near cities, close to the hungry city folk who are going to eat it.

instead of grown in distant farms where they have to travel and burn a bunch of fuel to get to you. Jack, can I give a little couple of disclosures here? Sure. First, I had plenty for lunch. So, like, I literally ate their spring mix like an hour ago. This is Nick. I consumed plenty. But also, when we were driving out to Tahoe the other weekend, we passed the new Gotham Greens vertical farm on Interstate 80.

Very cool. There we go. It was tall. It was tall. Now, here's the news today. Walmart is investing in plenty. It is. And it's a big deal because, as you've heard us say about a dozen times on this pod,

Walmart is America's biggest grocer. If so factor, it is Earth's biggest grocer. And so Walmart is not only investing, they're going to stick Plenty's lettuce and other vegetables into all 310 California Walmart stores. Now, that's cool, but there's a little thing Jack and I think would be cooler. Why don't they stick Plenty's vertical farms inside a Walmart and provide customers with ladders to climb up and pick their parcel?

This is kale that can scale. Even cooler would be if Walmart stuck plenty and these vertical farms in all 5,000 U.S. Walmart locations. Because that reminds us of Jackson, my coolest favorite stat about Walmart. 90% of Americans live within 10 miles up at Walmart. So if plenty gets in Walmart, there's going to be plenty of plenty for all of us. There is. And snackers, these guys, they're just starting with veggies right now, the low margin stuff. But fruit is the profit puppy.

Oh, yeah. Strawberries is the real profit puppy. And that's coming out. That's where the money is. So Jack, what's to tell, pay anything for a strawberry? Jack, what's the takeaway? for our buddies over at Plenty. Good entrepreneurs build for today's customers. Great ones build for tomorrow's customers. Snackers, Plenty, they are building a company for 2052, not 2022, because you don't actually need vertical farms right now. Produce is plentiful in most of America. Whether it's at the Whole Foods or the corner bodega, you can get vegetables in most parts of this country. So Plenty's real customer, it's you, but it's you in 30 years when lettuce is scarce.

Plenty's competitor, Bowery, says that the population of the earth will be 10 billion people by 2050. And that's a problem because our agricultural system simply can't feed that many people. You got climate change then messing with land, messing with water. Oh, and you have more mouths to feed on Earth? That's a problem. So vertical farming uses 1% as much land as regular old John Deere farming does. Old school horizontal farming. And it's more efficient. Plenty says they can pump out 350 times.

more romaine per acre of land than flat earth farms. So Plenty's not solving a problem that exists today. It's solving tomorrow's problem for tomorrow's customer. Venture capitalists and even Walmart want a piece of the solution that Plenty is working on. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for Wednesday? The Joe Rogan pod is causing a bit of a headache for Spotify. Because with great publishing comes great responsibility. Mark Cuban for our second story is trying to disrupt prescription medications with his online pharmacy. Yeah, cost plus 15% and his face because you trust his face. He's selling you trust. For our third and final story, plenty. Just got a check from Walmart and some shelf space.

Good entrepreneurs, they built for today's customers. Great ones built for tomorrow's customers. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one tweeted in by Matt from lovely Claussen, Michigan. You may have noticed the M&M characters got a rebrand last week. I think like even the green Eminem. Got a makeover. Yeah. She swapped out her go-go solettos for some. some casual Stan Smith sneaks. M&Ms, though, they are timeless. Created in 1941, and we know you're thinking the M on each M&M. What's the M?

What's the M. What's the M. What is it? It's a lowercase. What is going on? Also, each one only has one M, right? But they're called M&M. Snackers, the actual M's on the candy are for the businessmen who created the M&Ms in 1941. Forrest Mars and Bruce Murray.

You create the candy, you live forever on the candy. Except for the fourth musketeer. It's another snack fact for another pot. Snackers, you look fantastic. Jack, do we even answer to that? that final SAT question we asked at the beginning of this pod. It's always sick. It's always safe. The answer was 60% of the time.

If you know, you know. Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, happy birthday to Jason Ballantyne celebrating in Hollywood with his wife on a long weekend. And happy 36th to Wes Lewis. This is a belated birthday sent with extra snacks love down to San Diego. And Chase Edmonds grabbing a cup of coffee with the birthday down in Houston.

Happy birthday to Beasts. Happy birthday to Matt Smith. Celebrating without the kids this time over in Tahoe City. And Aaron Grand, happy birthday down in San Diego. Happy birthday to Eli, my buddy from San Francisco. And Brooklyn Marshall, happy birthday in Metamora, Illinois. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack, Nick owned stock of Apple, and we both on stock of Pelton and Spock. 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 principle and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. Oh yeah. Strawberries is the real profit puppet.