The Best One Yet - ⛳️ “Just tap it in” — Golf’s money marriage. Vita Coco’s coconut surge. Coinbase’s big lawsuit.

Episode Date: June 7, 2023

The PGA Tour is merging with LIV Golf, because those Saudi pockets are just too deep. A top-performing IPO from 2021? It’s Vita Coco — The stock has doubled because coconut water is in 10% of American fridges. Coinbase’s stock fell 20% the past 2 days because it’s trying to obey the laws of crypto… but there are no laws of crypto. $COCO $COIN $BTC Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn 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 Wednesday, Cevice Wednesday, June 7th, and today's pod is the best one yet. It is a T-Boy. Don't encourage him, Yetis. We're feeling it, Jack. We're feeling every minute of it. Yeties, the S&P 500 finished yesterday at a 52-week high. It's the highest level for stocks in a year. June, you're looking fantastic. Jack, your skunk smell is gone. You're smelling fantastic. It's not gone. You can't smell me through this. show right now. I actually think you smell better than ever right now. Ode-s-Skunk by Calvin Klein. Oh, the podcast. Jack, first story. What do we got on the show today? Just as your golf game is coming together, the two pro-golf leagues are merging. Yeties, most business deals happen on a golf course. This deal was the golf course. For our second story, the best performing IPO of the last two years, shocker.

It may be Vita Cocoa Coconut Water. Coconut water because Vita Koko is the backup dancer, which is making it a star. And our third and final story is Coinbase. The crypto exchange just saw its stock drop 20% in two days. Coinbase is trying to be the good guy of crypto, but it might be really hard to be the good guy of crypto. That might not be possible to be the good guy of crypto. It's pretty difficult out there, Yetis. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix of stories.

How perfect mix, I love this mix, Jack. Yeties, you know that feeling when you're just like, You're really annoyed. I know what you're feeling, Jack. Like when you're just texting a buddy and you just want to let it out. All you want to do is type in one ducking word. But that ducking auto-correct keeps ducking change in the ducking word on you. You're like, what the duck?

Yeah, holy duck. Ducking auto-correct, man. Yeah, what the duck is going on over there. Yeties get this. iPhone just updated their auto-crack to be less ducking annoying. All of the expletives you've all. always tried to type, they won't be overridden. The S word, the A word, the B word. They're all fair game in your iMessage convos now. Even the F word won't be auto-corrected to duck anymore. And yet

he's, that's not the only autocorrect that Apple is updated. Because when Apple autocorrects a word, it will now underline that word so you know. Sounds small, but that's actually huge. Because this way, before push and send, you can quickly see what Apple actually changed. And with one tap, you can un-autoccurts. correct it. Because I did mean conscious, not consciousness. With one tap, you can re-correct Apple's auto-correct. It did mean aluminum, not a millennium. Thanks, Apple. Took you 20 ducking years to fix duck and auto-cracked. About duck in time. Yet he's let's start. 15 years before this song, two boys from the northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea boy city on your

at list. You know you know because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show. For our first story, right before the summer golf season, the two biggest golf leagues just shockingly merged. In a stunning development, Live golf is merging with the PGA tour.

Last year, Jack, one of our favorite takeaways. Pro sports are getting disrupted. We saw it with pickleball. We saw with roller hockey. But golf and the PGA tour was the biggest league to face the biggest disruption. Yeah, because Saudi Arabia launched a super golf league last year out of nowhere. And they called it Live Golf. Live Golf. It's a golf league, but it is financed by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

And its strategy was simple. It was a bold strategy cotton and it was a simple strategy. Here was live golf strategy. Tap into the vast oil riches of that Middle Eastern nation to buy the best golfers in the world. Just tap, tap, tap, tap, tap it in. Tap, taparoo. And for two years, the PG&S, Tour resisted LiveGolf at every turn.

For two years, both sides hated each other. The golf world was split into two. It wasn't just a business war either. Like, the players were at war with each other, and so were the fan bases, too. Yeah, you couldn't walk in with the gold jacket. You couldn't walk in with the green jacket. The PGA Tour was on one side, and the Saudi-backed Live Golf League was on the other side. Until yesterday, here is the shocking news, Yetis.

The PGA Tour is marrying. same person they've been bashing the past two years. That's the biggest deal since Schuett McAvin blew a four-shot lead on the back nine. Here's the shocker. Liv Golf is combining with the PGA Tour to form a new unified golf league next year, name TBD. We don't know the name. We do know it's going to be an acronym. Most likely a couple letters. So there's going to be one golf league again, but the Saudis will be equal investors to the 100-year-old PGA tour. Now, interesting thing, Jack and I should point out here, besties. The business business model of this new league is going to be different from the league. You're used to.

This league won't be a nonprofit, like the PGA Tour has always been. Yeah, it's currently a nonprofit. Pro Golf is a nonprofit. Instead, it's going to be a Saudi- style for-profit golf league to try to turn a financial return. I think they're going to sprinkle on a little extra profit, right, Jack? That's going to be the focus. They're going to go profits over traditions. Expect to see like rule changes. Uh-huh. That nine iron, it's going to be a golden nine iron. Now, if you're wondering, Why is the PGA tour abandoning their moral high ground and accepting a deal with live golf? Well, we can answer it with one of the oldest answers of all time, can we, Jack?

Money. Yeah, money. Actually, not just money. We're talking like those giant big golf checks. Yeties, the official ownership split of this new league wasn't publicly announced. No, it wasn't. But Saudi Arabia essentially is now going to own half of American pro golf. And Grizzly Adams did have a beard.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in pro golf? The toughest enemy in business is the one with deep pockets. Yet he's lately Saudi Arabia has been showing that it's willing to spend just about anything to gain relevance in sports. In golf, Saudi Arabia spent a reported $200 million to get Phil Mickelson to join the Live Golf League. And it's not just golf, is it, Jack? In soccer, they're paying the 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo way past his prime. A crazy $225 million a year to play soccer in Saudi Arabia. What is that, like 10 times LeBron?

That's like four Lebrons. Yeties, the PGA tour, it tried to appeal to your conscience. The league pointed out, Saudi Arabia has human rights violations. That's a problem. But pro golfers kept on defecting anyway. They couldn't resist those huge Saudi checks. So yesterday, the PGA gave up. They waived the white flag and surrendered.

They're accepting Saudi money instead of fighting it. Because the toughest enemy in business is the one with deep pockets. For our second story. One of the top IPOs of the last two years, get this. It's coconut water. Rita Coco, coconut water. The stock just hit an all-time high because it wants to be the backup dancer, not the star. All right?

Let's jump in T-boy style, Jack, coconut water. Nature's Gatorade, right? That's basically what this is. Naturally occurring electrolytes, low calorie, and it gives you an inflated sense of hotness. Yes. Yeah, does, but do you want to do your full disclosure, Jack? You want to just share it with the team here?

Well, first of all, is it called coconut water or coconut juice? Because Vita Coco sells both. You're beating around the bush, my friend. Have you ever tasted a coconut that has had water? I've never felt the inflated sense of hotness that coconut water gives you. Have you never been to Disney World? What's going on over here, man? You've got to crack one open.

When I went to Disney World, I don't think coconut water existed. No, that's the key. There are palm trees in Disney World. That's where you get the freshest coconut water. We'll have to discuss this later, Jack. In the meantime, yet he's Vita Coco. It's the $1.5 billion pure play coconut stock. The R&D department at Vita Koko is Tom Hanks and Castaway.

Yeah. Basically, the company was founded by a couple. This guy went to Brazil. He met a woman in a bar. They got married. They drank a lot of coconut water there. And then they came back to the United States and sold that coconut water. Now Vita Koko is a publicly traded company.

And they say that coconut water is in one out of 10 American fridges right now. Yet he's sit down, stand up and sip on these numbers. Among millennials, the top demographic for coconut water, 14% of their homes are chugging cocoa. Not me. Not yet. Not yet. And frankly, there's kind of just one main brand in the whole coconut water industry. It's Vita Coco and everybody else. Yeah, because Vita Coco has 50% of the coconut water market. Now, most of the stocks that went public in 2021 are way down today from where they started. However, Jack, how is Vita Coco stock doing? Its stock is double where it started at its IPO two years ago. Although we should point out,

there is one existential risk to this coconut water company. It's all in on coconut. If anything happens, there's a disease with coconuts. That's going to be a problem. There's one species of tree. It depends on. Wilson! But yet he's here's the fascinating challenge facing Vita Coco.

Vita Coco is trying to go from a wellness niche product to a mass market product. They're trying to go from a splurge product to a staple product. From the yoga studio to the bar. Is it possible to do this? The answer is yes. Yes. Cranberry juice did this 70 years ago. Exactly. And that is the playbook. That is the recipe that coconut water wants to follow. In the 1940s, cranberry juice sales weren't really grown at all.

So they started selling cranberry juice specifically as a mixer. Exactly. Cranberry juice met the customer where they are. And coconut water is trying to do the same thing right now. For example, Vita Coco partnered with Captain Morgan's rum to launch a coconut canned cocktail. And Vita Cocoa partnered with hotel. tells in the Hamptons to start serving cocoa mixers at places like surf lodge. And Vita Koko partnered with a bunch of coffee shops to sell coconut as a milk option for your latte.

For your double-digit latte. To get you comfortable with coconut water, it's going where you're already comfortable. It's going into alcohol and it's going into coffee. It's becoming a mixer. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Vita Koko? Sometimes to become the star, you've got to be the backup. Yet is this Vita Koko strategy? it feels counterintuitive.

They're not promoting their core coconut water product. Instead, they're promoting other products where their product is the backup. Yeah, coconut water is the mixer in a cocktail or the drop in a smoothie or the addition to a latte. Because coconut water is such a new category, it needs to fit into existing categories you know well. And it looks like that's working because water is the fastest growing beverage in the United States.

And Vita Coco is the fastest growing brand within that fastest. growing category. So besties, sometimes to get noticed, you got to hit yourself to something bigger than you. You got to be the backup dancer today to become the star tomorrow. For our third and final story, Coinbase just got sued by the SEC the biggest week of the year of crypto lawsuits. Coinbase is trying to be law-abiding. That might not be possible, though. More on that in the takeaway. In the meantime, Yetis, the CEO of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in America, just put on a helmet and is lawyering up. Because Wall Street's top regulator, the SEC, they say that they control the law and order for crypto. And the SEC just charged Coinbase with running an illegal exchange. The SEC says,

if you're going to sell crypto on Wall Street, you follow Wall Street's rules. You follow my rules. And as a result, Coinbase's stock dropped by 20% in the last two days. So it's been the worst legal week for crypto in a year. But the SEC is suing this week for two different alleged crimes. Okay, that's what Jack and I found fascinating about this. There are two different crimes going on in crypto right now, and they're kind of like opposite ends of the spectrum, right, Jack? One of the crimes being alleged here is failing to register. Yeah, that's what Coinbase was just sued for yesterday. Like driving without a driver's license, running an exchange without an exchange license. It's like if you pulled up to a stop sign and like maybe you

didn't do a complete stop, right, Jack? It's not that exciting a crime. Like, Hulu's not going to make a documentary on Coinbase not having an exchange license. This is going to star Matt Damon and it is not going to be streaming next week. Now, the other alleged crime that the SEC charged this week is stealing customers money. Stealing customer money. That is a much more serious crime. Enter Binance, the largest crypto firm on Earth. They were sued two days ago by the SEC for allegedly stealing customers money.

Stealing customer money. The exact same charge that the SEC dropped on Sam Bankman-Fried and FD and FD. TX a few months ago. This is a much worse offense than driving without a license. Yeah, this is not driving without a license. This is like driving and then hitting somebody. On purpose. Yeah. Twice. Binance was actually charged with both of those crimes, by the way. Yeah, that's not a good luck, finance. Coinbase was only charged with the more minor one. But that's all up and the whole crypto community felt frustrated.

Ducking frustrated. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our. buddies over at Coinbase. Coinbase is trying to follow the law, but there are no crypto laws. Yeah, that's the problem. Yet he's as the largest crypto exchange in America, Coinbase seems to want to set standard. It's trying to be transparent, and it is trying to be law-abiding. The CEO, Brian Armstrong, has been begging Congress to pass a crypto act.

Yeah, but Congress hasn't done that. And there are no crypto rules. So the SEC is using old rules. The SEC thinks that. some cryptocurrencies are securities like stocks, so a firm like Coinbase must register them. Okay, now here's where we stand yetis. Coinbase is going to defend itself in court and argue that it's just trying to run a legal crypto business.

The problem with that statement, there are no laws. So what is a legal crypto business? And that is one of the main problems facing crypto right now. Even if you try to follow the law, there are no crypto laws. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us over there? The Saudi-backed Live Golf League is combining next year with the PGA tour. And he's the toughest enemy in business is the one with the deep pocket. For our second story, Vita Koko stock just reached an all-time high.

It has doubled since its IPO. Because to be the star, Vita Koko is willing to be the backup dancer. And our third and final story, Coinbase, they were just sued by the SEC for running an unregistered exchange. Honestly, Coinbase, it's trying to follow the law. but frankly, there are no crypto laws. Yeah, what law? Now, time for the best fact yet, which Jack and I did a little remix here.

We decided to whip one up ourselves because we noticed something in the autocorrect story we were telling you. Well, what's the most commonly misspelled word in the English language? Yeah, we were wondering, like, what's the duck in most commonly misspelled world? Because it can't just be curse words.

Like, what are the most commonly misspelled words? Sometimes Apple appropriately autocorrects. Like, what's that hard one? You always have trouble with this one, Jack. I have never in my whole life spelled the word bureaucracy correctly. Jack loves to vent to me about bureaucracy. I'm here for it. I hear you, man.

It's tough. There's a couple of U's somewhere. There's an EA. There's a, oh, I think. I think you round up one of the letters. But yet he's, in the meantime, what is the most commonly misspelled word in the English language? Apparently, it's a parent.

Yes, according to Grammarly, a company that checks your grammar, the most commonly misspelled word is a parent. Here's how to remember it. It's an AP parent. Like a parent who makes you take AP exams. Amazing. Jack, this is incredible. Did you just thought of this on the pod? Live on the spot.

Unreal. Did you really? That's incredible. Unducking real. Absolutely incredible. Yetis, you look fantastic for Cevice Wednesday. And if you haven't yet, the best way you can help grow this show is to turn to a buddy and say H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Have you had the best one yet?

If you know, you know. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we. go. A shout out and congratulations to a couple of legendary Yetis, Yvonne and Daria, who just had a baby boy, Matthew, here in California. And congratulations to Tyler Aberley, who was promoted at Abercrombie and Fitch. And congratulations to Charles Pretovow, who graduated high school and has started college already at the same time. Not too shabby. And congratulations to Marley Guyton, who's celebrating 10 years of marriage in Miami.

And Jeanette Pagan, happy birthday down in Puerto Rico. Happy birthday to Brock Boulien in Brookfield, Connecticut. And Alisa, the Bear Burger, is walking through Rittenhouse Square on her way to Huntsman Hall to celebrate a fantastic birthday. Happy birthday to Colleen Noyan Schfander, who's celebrating with her two kids, a dog, and a big old piece of chocolate cake. You stuck the landing on that one, Jack. Not too bad. I don't know if she's German, but Noy and Schfander is what we're going for here.

I'm going to round up on that one. And a congratulations and a happy birthday. Happy birthday to a legendary, long-time bestie, Kate down in Pasadena, California. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple, and we both own ETFs of the S&P 500. Apparently. Great work, dude.

Your comic relief was hysterical. Dude, no problem. I was, honestly, was just feeling that at the end. I was just feeling that Grizzly Adams won. That was perfect. It was like, Jack, what's takeaway? So Grizzly Adams did have it.