The Best One Yet - 👊 “Kirkland vs. Trump” — Costco’s tariff lawsuit. Estée Lauder’s AI perfume. Dell’s $250 donations. +TBOY LIVE TOUR

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, so Ritchin Wednesday, December 3rd, 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. But first, congratulations to everyone, just named to the Forbes 30-under-30 list yesterday. Nick and I were on the list. Yeah, it was eight years ago. We turned 30. Well, we're 37 now, so yeah, eight years ago. It was an honor. Now, if you are on the Forbes 30-under-30 list, there is a 50% chance you become successful. And a 50% chance you go to jail. Yeah, yeah, the odds are not in your favor. All right, dude, the humble brags over. Let's move on to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Everyone on the list this year, try not to commit a financial felony. Jack, three stories for today's team boy. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, Costco just took on the biggest risk in business today. It has sued President Donald Trump. It's Costco's Kirkland versus Trump's tariffs in a battle in federal court. For our second story, Estee Lauder. just invented an AI chatbot that sells you twice as much perfume as you otherwise would have bought.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Besties, this is huge. This perfume bot is the first AI with an ROI. And our third and final story, Michael Dell is giving $6 billion directly to 25 million American kids. I'd press my cha-ching button, but I can't find a check. Every American child nine years or younger is about to get a brokerage account with a whole bunch of mullah. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. A fantastic mix of stories for the T-Boy Wednesday, Jack. As hyped to the last couple days, we have an announcement today. Oh, there's a gift we've been working on for months. We wrapped it up and we are ready to open it.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Here it is. Our very first live podcast tour nationwide in 26. The T-Boy Live podcast tour nationwide. Next year, Besties, we're calling it our IPO tour. Now, we should sprinkle on some context. We've done live shows before in San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Chicago. They're fantastic. They feel like rock shows of business news.

Starting point is 00:02:07 The vibes are at an all-time high every single time. But Jack and I noticed that the Gettys were flying in to see our one-off shows. From all across the country, in fact, some of you flew in from different countries to see us at past live shows. So next year, we are going to reduce your travel time by coming closer to you. Yeah, we'll come to you this time. Seven cities throughout the year, you can see us perform a live podcast in, interview a guest live and much more. We did a T-Boy earnings report live in Chicago.

Starting point is 00:02:33 That was wild. Took questions from the audience. I think we're going to do that at each show. But Jack, I got to ask, well, I already know the answer. But why are we calling at the IPO tour? Because it's our in-person offering. I-P.O. And today, besties, we're announcing our first four cities.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Austin, Texas on February 25th. Arlington, Virginia on March 11th. New York City on April 8th. And lovely Los Angeles on June 3rd. There are three more shows in the second half of the year. We'll announce those next year. We gotta leave a little extra for you. Tickets go on sale Friday, but we wanted to let you know today.

Starting point is 00:03:04 You can check out the links to get more info. We put a link to buy tickets in this episode description. We can't wait to see in person because the IPO tour will be the best one yet. Jack, I found the chiching button. Let's hit that IPO, baby. We are so pumped for this seat on the tour, Jack. Let's hit our three stars. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn.

Starting point is 00:03:26 They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea 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. For our first story, Costco just sued the Trump administration yesterday demanding tariff

Starting point is 00:04:06 refunds. It's a risky and bold PR bet. Do Costco customers care more about low prices or Trump politics? Yeties, here is the showdown. Costco versus the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That's an actual lawsuit filed Friday in federal court. We got the text of that lawsuit yesterday, so we're going to break down the details of that text like it was Isle 6.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Costco's lawyers are arguing that President Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs are illegal. We have covered that issue before. The Supreme Court is deciding that issue right now in Washington, D.C. Jack, could you sprinkle on the reminder for us over there, please? The argument is that Congress, levies taxes, not the president. And tariffs are taxes. And since the president did the tariffs not Congress, they're illegal. Ipso facto canceled the trade war. Now, at besties, it could be any day now that the Supreme Court decides on this case, or a decision could not come for a few months.

Starting point is 00:05:01 Either way, prediction markets give Trump's tariffs just a 26% chance of surviving this Supreme Court decision. So let's dive in T-boy style to the lawsuit. Besties, Costco is yelling out, loud and clear that they think Trump's tariffs are illegal, they want a refund, and they would like to speak to a manager. Hold the hot dogs in toilet paper. Yeah. We can see the damage and impact of Trump's tariffs in Costco's Kirkland Fruit Isle. Yes, we can't. Because Costco said this spring, it's paying tariffs on bananas and pineapples that it buys from abroad. Now, it's not passing the cost of those tariffs onto us consumers. Right. So their produce section is probably losing money. Yeah, yeah, because of Trump's tariffs. The smoothies in the food court,

Starting point is 00:05:47 probably a lost llama right now. But Costco is passing on the tariffs related to flowers. So you may be noticing you're paying a price hike premium for those peonies. Costco is eating the cost of tariffs for necessities like fruits and vegetables, but it's passing them on for splurges like flowers. That's the status quo. Either way, Costco hates this because its core mission is to save money for customers. Tariffs are taxes on Costco, which are ultimately taxes on Costco So they are suing to end the Trump tariffs and receive a refund, although Costco didn't really say how much they have paid in tariffs yet, right, Jack? No, which I wish they would tell us. But Nick, if Costco does get the refund, like they're asking the judge to grant them, will they then refund customers who paid a premium on those peonieses?

Starting point is 00:06:32 I think they're going to have to speak to a manager. I'd like to speak to a manager, please. I got my receipt right here. It's a messy situation, but a bold move in court by Costco. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for? our Kirkland buddies over at Costco. This isn't just a legal move. It's a marketing move.

Starting point is 00:06:48 Costco's putting their value proposition before the president. Yet he's added all up, and this is the boldest pushback we have seen on President Trump by any corporation by far. Dozens of other companies filed the same lawsuit against these tariffs as Costco did, but none of those companies are household names. And for that reason, Costco knew that this lawsuit would amass huge media attention. I mean, it's Costco versus Trump. It is Kirkland versus the president. Costco even mentioned Trump's name 13 times in the lawsuit, something no other company would dare do.

Starting point is 00:07:19 True. And Nick, they even asked the court to ban President Trump from levying tariffs like this ever again in the future. It's possible Costco bans Trump from ever going into Costco and buying gold bars in the future. Every other corporation is afraid to say anything negative about Trump, and Costco just sued him in court. But here's what we're thinking. Maybe Costco calculated it would be net positive PR because this is consistent. with their mission. Costco probably just got placed on Donald Trump's enemies list, alongside ABC, James Coney, and now Sabrina Carpenter. But Costco's core mission is to save people money, and this is them showing they will honor that commitment at any length. Even if it means they have to sue Donald Trump, the president of the United States. They're putting their value prop

Starting point is 00:08:02 before the president. For our second story, Este Latter, just hired Google to take on the biggest challenge and beauty sell perfume for $200 without letting people smell it. And it worked. It worked. It's a rare case of AI actually boosting revenues. Yeties, the top performing beauty category these days. It ain't skin or hair. It's your schnaz. I love that word. Such a great body part nickname. The schnaz. Because fragrance sales are surging across the economy. Yeah, the one thing Gen Z will actually splurge on men or women is scent. It's a perfume pop cologne crush. Six months ago, we did a story on smell maxing. Oh, that was great. I remember that. Gucci's fragrance sales are growing thanks to men. But the big winner in the fragrance

Starting point is 00:08:51 category is actually Estée Lauder. Estée Lauder, the French-sounding but not actually French cosmetics company. They're being powered by perfume and cologne sales right now. Estée Lauder, they own Tom Ford, Joe Malone, and LaLabo, and their stock is up 35% this year on the smell economy. But the biggest challenge overall Overall, according to Wall Street Journal reporting, is selling perfume online. How can you convince a customer digitally about something totally not digital like how something smells? As far as we know, iPads don't have a little spritz machine in the corner of the screen.

Starting point is 00:09:27 I just want to say schnaz again. But, Jack, can you sprinkle on some context for us, please? Smell is already the hardest of the five senses to describe with words. Vasties, think about this. We literally don't have the right words for smells. the English language. Bernay Brown would say that we lack the right vocabulary. For instance, the average man can only identify three emotions, happy, sad, or pissed off. Similarly, we have a limited vocabulary of sense. Good, bad, and smells like popcorn. And smells like burning rubber. For some reason,

Starting point is 00:09:57 we all know what that smells like. You see, Yeties, we can all describe how things look, sound, and feel, but not really how they smell. And that is a corporate challenge. So, S. Day Latter hired Google to invent an AI bot specifically to solve this challenge. As Jack and I call it, it, Mission Olfactory Impossible. They sent an engineering team to the Joe Malone factory and told them to train Gemini AI to evaluate perfumes. And guess what? AI cracked the code on scent. It found a formula to describe scents that we can actually understand in the written word. You see, the dichotomy of fragrance actually falls into seven main categories. Like wood, amber, gourmand, et cetera. There's also five modern categories of scent. Aromatic, musky, leathery, etc. Now, all twilight.

Starting point is 00:10:41 12 of those categories are related to the ingredients of the perfumes. Well, put Jack. Now, Bessie's, that's the technical side. But equally relevant in this industry is what the scent evokes. This perfume is like a pear orchard in the spring. Jack, this cologne is like a bucket of blackberries in the rain. It smells like Cape Cod on the coast. Is that a great white shark right over there?

Starting point is 00:11:01 Don't get in the water. Then, after the ingredients and the experience, Google's AI actually studied the perfume salespeople. Yeah, the S-Day Lauder lady that confirmed. fronts you as you enter Bloomingdale's. Because the salesperson ties it all to the customer need, like this rose pedal is a perfect fit for a wedding. Add it all up and Joe Malone now has an AI scent advisor you can find on their website that connects the ingredients to the categories, to the emotional descriptions of the perfumes, to the sales pitches. But Jack, pause the pot. Can this bot actually convince you to drop 250 bucks without ever actually smelling it?

Starting point is 00:11:37 The bot swears it smells like a cornfield. See, I don't have the words. I don't have the words to describe the smell. I'm kind of sold on your Cape Cock shark perfume, Jack. In the meantime, so man, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Estee Lauder and Google? The unicorn of AI is ROI. Yeties, what did Jack and I mean by that? Well, the biggest challenge in artificial intelligence is getting a return on your investment.

Starting point is 00:12:04 Look, the sellers of AI are making money. think invidia, but the buyers of it, which is every other company, are they seeing a return on their investment in AI? Because from chat GPT to Amazon's AI shopbot to McDonald's AI drive-thru, billions are getting invested, but few have grown revenue enough to justify the huge cost. Well, we just found one that does. S. Day Lauder's perfume chat bot. Get this, besties. In two months, online shoppers using this perfume bot, purchased perfume at twice the rate at those. who didn't. It's a rare mythical beast. That's huge. A practical AI application that demonstrably

Starting point is 00:12:43 improved sales, in this case, by 2x. Added up, and Estee Lauder and Google built a rare unicorn. They found an AI with an ROI. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the founder of Dell Computers is giving 250 bucks to 25 million American kids in their Trump accounts. million children are about to become investors in the stock market. And we think this will change the nature of birthday presents. Yeties, let's start with Mikey Dell. Founded a $100 billion computer business and stuck his name on it. Dude, you're getting to Dell. Yeah, well, that's not all you're getting these days, by the way, because Jack, what did Michael Dell say his success was as an adult? It wasn't

Starting point is 00:13:34 his parents or a book or his mentors. It's that he saved a little bit of money every week as a child. That's right, because in the 1970s, interest rates were really high. So those savings accounts, 60 years ago, compounded into big money when Michael Dell was a kid. Today, you need more than a savings account to keep up with rising costs. You need stock market growth. And Trump's one big, beautiful bill passed earlier this year. Let's that happen. It created tax-advantaged accounts for all American children.

Starting point is 00:14:04 That's right, the Trump kid accounts. We covered them in July. Kids born in Trump's second term even get a $1,000 check of seed money from the government in their Trump accounts. But here's the new news. Michael Dell will now contribute $6.25 billion of his own money for kids in America born from 2016 to 2024. He and his wife are donating $250 to $25 million to ageed one to nine years old. Besties, it is a baby funding, boom. Yet he's the best way to learn is to earn.

Starting point is 00:14:36 True. Well, 25 million kids will learn the beauty of the stock market by earning money while they're in kindergarten. Even if they're in detention. But yeties, let's go through the fine print of this, because many of you are parents right now who want to know if their kids are eligible for this money. Yeah. To quote the notorious BIG and ludicrous, you're eager to get that money. Trump accounts, also known as 530A accounts, start on July 4th, 2026. The 4th of July next year is when parents can activate these accounts for their kids. Any American kid from newborns to nine-year-olds will have money waiting for them if their parents open those accounts after July 4th of next year.

Starting point is 00:15:15 Sebastian, if your kid was born in Trump's second term, they will get an auto-deposited $1,000 in that account. My youngest son Oakley, cha-ching, I get $1,000 for him. And if your kid was born between 2016 and 2024, then what are you getting, Jack? You might get $250 from the Dell family. Cha-ching, Wilder and Brooks are getting $250. bucks each. Jack, I'll just press it for you. I know we pressed it once earlier, but we didn't press the Cheching button yesterday, so I feel like we could. Now, Nick did say your kid might get $250 from the Del family. Yeah. Because this latest news, the money is only going to kids born in

Starting point is 00:15:52 zip codes where the median incomes are below $150,000 a year. Right. So kids living in wealthy zip codes won't get the money, at least not the money from the Delpham. So I hate to say it, but Nick's kids, he lives in San Francisco. It's a high-income city. We're not getting any Dell money. No, we're not getting a Dell, Jack. But Nick, the Dell's donation, $6 billion, a lot of money, but it's only 4% of their net worth, and yet it's going to have an enormous impact on American families.

Starting point is 00:16:18 Yeah, yet he's followed the math here. Let's dive in T-boy style. You see, $250 becomes $1,000 after about 15 years in the stock market, assuming 10% per year returns. Which would become $9,000 if family, friends, and donors or the government can contribute an additional $250 bucks a year. $9,000? That's like you could buy a car or a year of public school tuition.

Starting point is 00:16:40 You're getting into down payment of a house territory, Nick. Or you could buy a bunch of rare Labibu dolls on eBay with that kind of cash. So this big donation from one wealthy family has a huge impact on 25 million families. And that leads to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in America with a kid under nine years old? It's our prediction. These Trump accounts will change the nature of child gifting. Yeties, Jack and I are parents, and we just have too many toys in our house.

Starting point is 00:17:09 Over Thanksgiving, man, I bought Maxie, like 12 Hot Wheels cars. I actively tell my parents, family, and friends to not buy us more toys or clothes for the kids because we have too much. Well, Jack's kids hate them for that, but we set up a 529 education savings account instead for our kids, and Jack and I put money into those accounts in lieu of birthday presents. Well, the Dells finished their announcement yesterday with the CTA. They called on family, friends, and wealthy philanthropists to join them in making direct cash contributions to America's kids. Imagine if instead of a $50-dollar talk-toy truck set or an American girl doll, you could

Starting point is 00:17:47 contribute 50 bucks for that kid's stock market account instead. Imagine a future with fewer Elmo's as birthday presents and more ETFs as birthday presents. Right now, it's hard to gift a kid's stock because kids probably don't have stock accounts. But starting next year, they will have them thanks to these free Trump 538 stock accounts. We hope each kid's account gets like a QR code to make a Venmo contribution to their Trump account super easy. That's why we're saying this could change the nature of child gifting. Fewer toys, more Mattel stock. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday?

Starting point is 00:18:27 Costco sued the Trump administration in federal court, demanding a refund of all the tariffs that they've paid. It's Kirkland v. Trump, but it's more marketing than legal. They'll put low prices above presidential politics. For our second story, Estee Lauder hired Google to build an AI bot to sell perfume online, and it has two-xed sales. It worked. It's the rare AI application with a measurable ROI. That is an AI unicorn. And our third and final story is Michael and Susan Dell. They're donating $6.25 billion directly into kids' Trump accounts. With every American kid having a brokerage account, we think stuff. Gifting will be the new Tonka Truck American Girl doll.

Starting point is 00:19:07 But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Jack, can you press the emergency siren button? Do we have one, guys? No, we just have a chiching button. Because Sam Altman just called Code Red at OpenAI. He said, stop what you're doing and pay attention. Because for most of this year,

Starting point is 00:19:25 Open AI has been everywhere, launching everything, the clear number one in Consumer AI. But not anymore. Gemini 3 from Google and Anthropics. are stealing customers from chat GPT. It's a reminder that first mover advantage is just a temporary thing, not a guarantee for long-term success. And second, Ben, the Bitcoin is having a, to quote Lexus,

Starting point is 00:19:44 December to remember. The price of Bitcoin fell to $84,000 on Monday, but then jumped to $92,000 on Tuesday. It fell 5% to start the month and rebounded more than 5% on the second day of the month. Bitcoin's still down 30% from its all-time high after a painful November. An interesting reason for the wild swings in Bitcoin prices is leveraged investments.

Starting point is 00:20:06 You invest a buck, but you get five bucks of exposure to the Bitcoin market. Basties, let us know if you want a story on that. And finally, New York City is getting three new casinos, two in Queens, one in the Bronx. Casino operators wanted one in Times Square, but Manhattan rejected it. Interestingly, this casino plan is being led by billionaire and hedge funder and owner of the Mets, Steve Cohen. So right next to City Field, with the Mets play, will be a hard rock casino sometime soon in the future. We'd bet it won't actually help the Mets.

Starting point is 00:20:35 Now time for the best fact yet, this one sent in by Will Martin from lovely Cork, Ireland, and this is a correction. Last week, we did a story on the NFL potentially becoming the first intercontinental league thanks to supersonic jets. But Will points out that there already is an intercontinental sports league, Super Rugby. At one point, Super Rugby included teams spanning 12 different time zones, from Japan to South Africa, to the UK to Argentina. Today, it's still around, but mostly only in the Oceana region of the world.

Starting point is 00:21:08 But still, rugby was the first league that went intercontinental. Yeties, you'll look fantastic today, and we know you will look fantastic when we see you in person at our live shows on the tour next year. No guarantees here, but Nick and I are planning to do an after-party, and we hope to see you there. Let's guarantee it. What the heck. You're so excited to see in person the T-Boy IPO nationwide tour. It's the best possible experience of this show, and it's the highlight of Nixon might year.

Starting point is 00:21:35 It is. It is just the highlight of everything we do. We can't wait to see you there. We got links in the episode of description. Tickets go on sale Friday, but mark your calendar today. I'm just going to throw this out there. Live tickets to our show, great gift. Hanukkah, Christmas, birthdays, snag them right now.

Starting point is 00:21:51 Excellent point. Thank you, Jeff. Great point. Print them off. Put them under the Christmas tree, wrap them up. Bring them and we'll sign them. I mean, we can keep going. In the meantime, enjoy, grab your tickets.

Starting point is 00:22:01 If you know, you know. And before we go, a happy belated birthday to legendary Yeti, Devin McLaughlin, L. Devmeister, turning a dirty 30 on the Upper East Side. Jack, I think it's like our fourth year giving Devin a shout out. We love it. And happy 28th birthday to Francesca in Hackensack, New Jersey. And Tax and Sewell's turned five years old in San Diego, California, listening on the way to daycare and enjoy your future stock account.

Starting point is 00:22:29 And a big shout out to Anwar, a Yeti listening in Central Park right now. Actually, Jack, I ran into Anwar while I was on a run in Central Park. part. I see. And Anwar was listening to our show while I ran into it. It was incredible. Legendary. And to anyone else, celebrate something today. Make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own some Bitcoin. Bitcoin. Name Ben.

The Best One Yet - 👊 “Kirkland vs. Trump” — Costco’s tariff lawsuit. Estée Lauder’s AI perfume. Dell’s $250 donations. +TBOY LIVE TOUR

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