The Best One Yet - 🪩 “Mamma Mia, here we go again” — ABBA/KISS hologram concerts. Alaska’s Hawaiian airplane. Bitcoin’s mosquito rally.

Episode Date: December 5, 2023

**Merch Drop Alert**Get your holiday TBOY merch today at www.tboypod.com/shop (it’s our best drop yet).The band KISS is launching holograms of themselves to star in future concerts — But ABBA is already doing this… and it’s sold $150M worth of tickets already.Alaska Airlines is acquiring Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9B — To get to Hawaii, you’ll have to go through Alaska.And Bitcoin has surged 150% this year past $42k — Because after a crypto extinction event, Bitcoin is enjoying a “Mosquito Rally”.$BTC $ALK $HA $SPYSubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, Team Boy, Tuesday, December 5th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It is a team boy. And Jack, you are looking fantastic over there, my friend. Chili outside, good thing I'm wearing a hat. Oh, wait, we'll talk about this hat later.

Jack, three stories for today's show. What do we got? For our first story, Kiss, the rock band, is launching hologram concerts that you can watch in real life. But we've got two words about hologram concerts. Mama Mia. For our second story, Alaska Airlines is merging with Hawaii Airlines to become the number five airline in America.

To get to Hawaii, you're going to have to fly through Alaska. And our third and final story is Bitcoin. Bitcoin, where you been recently? You have surged 150% this year and just passed $42,000. So Jack and I whipped up an explanation for the unexplainable Bitcoin rally. But Yeties, before we hear, we have. hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a perfect mix of stories for a very special T-Boy Tuesday, Jack.

Nick and I jumped in T-Boy style to find out what's the number one holiday gift this year. Well, Yeties, it's not a Furby, it's not Legos, and it's not that electric pizza oven. You keep seeing ads for, sorry Instagram. I'm not buying it. We don't have space. The best gift this year is T-boy merch. Because today, besties, Jack and I have our T-boy holiday merch drop. That's right. Nick and I have been working on our winter collection the past couple months, and it's the best merch yet.

It went full anewintour on this thing. Literally. We heard what Moriah Carey's been saying. All I want for Christmas is you? Yeah, so Mariah, check your doorstep. We just shipped you a size small sweatshirt. You're going to like the way you look. We guarantee it. So hey, Tommy Hilfiger, can you show us this year's Winter Tea Boy collection? Jack, let's go full project runway on this thing. What do we got in today's T-boy merch drop? Our flagship product is a brand new T-boy crewneck sweatshirtier. Yadis, Jack and I whipped up two different colors.

Dusty pink and cream white for the new T-boy crewneck. This thing is oversized. It's cozy. It's the softest sweatshirt you've ever owned. Basties, this sweatshirt's going to feel like you're wearing a marshmallow cutofy. Look it up. Speaking of Look it up, if you're watching on Spotify or YouTube, look at us. We're wearing these sweatshirts right now.

Yes, we are. Second product for the merch drop. What do we got, Jack? First ever, T-Boy Winter Beanie. Tea Boy Winter Beanie's. We got a thick winter beanie hat that keeps your ears in ocean warm while you're listening to the show. We added a puff on top for some razzledazz. And we added a logo on the front for some sprinkled ankle.

Spoiler, we're wearing that too. And finally, our last product for the T-Boy merch Drop Jack. A brand new limited edition, T-Boy T-Bee-Boie t-shirt. In T-Boy Blue and Heather White. So yeties, eat some C-Vice in that T-Boy T-T-shirt. Or dink it on up in your T-Bee-Bee-Bee-T-shirt. T-Boy t-shirt. We also restocked some of our bestsellers from the spring. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies going to buy some T-boy merch?

T-boy merch. T-boy merch is live right now at T-boypod.com. So shoppy, shoppy, tell you drop-y-dropy, dropy. And go to T-boypod.com for the best gift yet. And then shoppy, shoppy, tell you dropy, dropy, dropy. Your move. Mariah, let's make it too. Jack, let's hit our three stories. 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 yet, but the best is a 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

Start the show For our first story Kiss the rock band Just announced that they will live on Forever with hologram concerts Because other bands are already this and they're making millions of dollars with hologram concerts. Jack, I just want to rock and roll all night, but I also want to party every day.

Those are the poetic words of Kiss. Kiss, they've done 44 albums and sold 100 million copies, not too shabby. These guys were wearing face masks way before COVID. Like, you've seen Kiss because they're the only people who paint their entire bodies black and white. They look like Oakland Raiders football fans. They have black and silver all. all over their face and huge tongues. Kiss, it's the only rock and roll band

that spent more money on makeup than on guitars. They technically have five members because the fifth member is Gene Simmons' tongue. I know. Please don't do an impression. No, I said don't do an impression. But Yeties, here's the news. After 50 years of performances,

Kiss the rock band is retiring. But Kiss, the rock band, will continue to concert tour forever. And how exactly are they, going to pull this object. With hologram concerts. Yeah, with hologram concerts. We're going to get real-life Kiss concerts, but with computer-generated avatars. Kiss is working with Lucasfilm of Star Wars fame to create 3D virtual versions of each and every band member. And using apparently the force, they're going to create these avatars and just go on concert tour for perpetuity. This is what

Gene Simmons said. He said, the band, it's more than us. So the band must live beyond us. 100 years from now, kisses great, great, great, great, great grandkids can watch their great grandparents play as holograms in concert. They're going to sit down on their hovering chairs in their space theaters and watch Gene Simmons's hologram perform. Now, Yeties, we know exactly what you're thinking, because we were thinking the same thing, too. Who's going to go to a concert, pay real ticket money to watch holograms perform on stage?

How many people are going to be paying all this money to watch face? versions of the people whose music they like. We know the answer. It's a lot of people who will do this. We know because this is already happening. It's already happening with Abba, the Swedish foursome of the band. Abba, the fantastic forsome behind Mama Mia, Fernando and Dancing Queen. They're already doing this.

For two years, Abba has had their holograms doing a whole concert tour, just like what Kiss just announced. In fact, there is an entire theater that they built in London that, That is just for Abba. Yeah. And Abba's not even physically on stage. Is their holograms. Get this, Yetis. It's called the Abba Voyage Experience.

And Abba has sold 1.9 million tickets to this real-life show. Avatars of the band Abba have generated $150 million in ticket revenue. To quote Abba, Mama Mia, here I go again. My, my. How can I resist you? They can't resist you. Fans have paid $150 million to buy tickets to watch digital holograms sing dancing queen. So Jack, you know what kiss must be thinking right now when they see those kind of

numbers? If Bjorn, Benny, Agatha, and Annie can do it, so can we in our tongues. Jack, you can dance, you can jive. You're having the time of your life. How about a takeaway over there? So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the music industry? Community has killed the metaverse. Yet he's interesting observation about these hologram concerts, they are the ultimate at use of technology, and yet they are extremely physical. You still have to travel to the concert venue in London. You still have to buy tickets. You still have to buy drinks and sit down in real seats.

It turns out only a fraction of the experience is actually virtual. It's just the four avatar band members who happen to be on stage. You're mostly paying for a physical concert experience. There's just a holographic highlight. So besties, the way Jack and I see it, this is a reminder that the value of entertainment isn't just the content. It's the community. It's not just seeing the performance.

It's experiencing the performance with other fans. That is why the Sphere concert venue in Las Vegas has gotten so much attention lately. And that's why nobody's putting headsets on and we're not talking about the Metaverse. And that is why Abba has made $150 million on a concert that they're not even in. And that is why KISS is trying to do the same thing. Because community killed the Metaverse. For our second story, Alaska Airlines is buying Hawaiian Airlines in a very un-Alascan acquisition. If you want to fly to Hawaii, you're going to have to fly Alaskan.

Jack, if we're going to talk about this story, can we please talk about the greatest real estate deal of all time? We're going to rewind to 1867 when these United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7 million. $7 million. That is a lot less than one lift, isn't it, check? And if you adjust the purchase price for Alaska, for inflation, let's do it. It was only $150 million in today's dollars. Sit down, stand up, and put us on an oil rig again.

Yeties, $150 million for us to buy the entire state of Alaska. Sounds like an incredible deal, but it's even better if you think about it on a per acre basis. Yeties, if you divide that $150 million by Alaska, 426 million acres. It means we paid Russia just 36 cents per acre in today's cents. 36 cents per acre. You can't even get 36 cents per acre over in Zuck's Metaverse, Jack.

True. Oh, and there's oil under that land. Not too shabby, sarring, selling sunset. The best acquisition of all time was Uncle Sam buying Alaska. Yeah, and it includes the polar bears. So, Yetis, the acquisition of Alaska was the greatest real estate deal of all time. But Alaska's namesake airline just made one of the worst acquisitions of all time. Alaska Airlines just acquired Hawaiian Airlines.

That's right. Alaska is paying a billion dollars for Hawaii. Airlines. The two non-contiguous states are teaming up against the other 48. The next time you fly to Honolulu, your Pokey Bowl might have some Alaskan Haddock in that thing. Now, investors like Alaska and Haddock, but they hate it. This deal that was announced yesterday. How much do they hate this deal exactly, Jack?

Alaska airline stock fell by 15% on news of this deal. Because acquiring a competitor is nice. But overpaying for a competitor isn't nice. Get this, Yetis. Hawaiian airline stock was just $5 on Friday before we went away for the weekend. But Alaska is paying nearly four times that to acquire the company. Oh, my mahalo, Jack. So naturally, Hawaiian Airlines stock jumped 200% yesterday.

They couldn't believe they fetched such a high price for the sale. But hold the pineapple, yeties. Another reason why Alaska Airlines shareholders hate this deal, Jack? It's probably going to be blocked. America's airline industry. It's already highly concentrated. There's no room for more airline mergers out there. Just this year, JetBlue attempted to acquire Spirit Airlines,

but that deal got blocked. But if this deal from Alaska Airlines to acquire Hawaiian Airlines does go through, then Alaska would own the most lucrative flight, in all of the vacation industry. The flight that's still on my bucket list. Thanks for bringing me back the souvenir, Nick. I would have done it. I would have done it, but they said that the pineapple would go bad.

Did they have snow globes in Hawaii? All right, I just got hungry on the flight. It's a long flight. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over? At Alaskan Airlines. Alaskan Airlines wants to be an aerial toll booth to the islands of Hawaii. Yeties, if this deal goes through, then Alaska will jump.

to become the number fifth biggest airline in America. But there's one route in particular where Alaska Airlines would be number one. If this deal goes through, Alaska will own more than half the flights to the islands of Hawaii. And that's huge because flights to Hawaii are an $8 billion a year business. And if this deal goes through, then Alaska will end up adding more flights, more planes, and more gates to Hawaii to capitalize on that $8 billion opportunity. And you know they're going to be. to raise prices on those flights because they have so much control of who gets in and out of the

Hawaiian islands. So when Jack and I look at the numbers, maybe Alaska didn't overpay for Hawaiian Airlines after all. The truth is, maybe I'll overpay when I finally go to Hawaii. Because Alaska Airlines could become the aerial tow booth to Hawaii. For our third and final story, it's Bitcoin. Bitcoin just surged to its highest level in over a year. This isn't just any crypto rally. This the Bitcoin rally. That's a mosquito rally. This is a mosquito rally. But before we kick off this story, Jack, Bitcoin, Ben, is it your bar mitzvah or something? What's going on over here, man? Bitcoin is on quite a run right now. Bitcoin's on its best streak since your neighborhood barista went all in on Doge. On Monday, Bitcoin jumped 5% to pass $42,000 per coin.

That's its highest point in one and a half years. Bitcoin is up 150% sent this year. Hey, chat, GPT. What do you think about them apples? That one buddy who moved to Miami, he just booked a table at the club. Oh, is that all he's doing? Because you know he's texting you. Yeah, he's texting you a whole bunch of rocket chip emojis right now. All you need to get into carbon these days is half a Bitcoin Jack. So yet, he's naked eye asked the question. Why is Bitcoin up so high? What is causing this sudden surge in Bitcoin, which frankly has been going up and up all year long? Well, as is often the case with crypto and stocks in general, there's no one clear reason for this.

Yeah, it isn't really a clear reason. Like, maybe it's because regulators are expected to approve a new Bitcoin ETF. That'd be validating to crypto and make it easier for people to invest. Or maybe it's because the Fed is expected to stop raising interest rates. Yeah, if money loosens up, more people might be willing to take a risk and invest in Bitcoin. Or maybe, just maybe, the reason why Bitcoin is up 150% this year is because of our takeaway. Our takeaway, which is on Bitcoin, dinosaurs, and mosquitoes. I'm intrigued and asteroids.

I would like to hear our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies curious about crypto? Bitcoin is experiencing a mosquito rally. Yeti's Bitcoin survived crypto's extinction event, and that has made it stronger. 65 million years ago, when an asteroid hit the Earth, the dinosaurs became extinct. But not all animals went extinct. Bronosaurus was dead, the T-Rex was dead, but mosquitoes, they survived. And those mosquitoes didn't just survive.

They thrived post-extinction. And they're still thriving today. Unfortunately, yeah, they are. Well, Jack and I have noticed a similar phenomenon happening in the crypto markets. Extinction survivors are winning. Yeties, over the past few years, as crypto was rising, so did the number of new species, new altcoins. Just random cryptocurrencies were everywhere.

But the last two years have devastated the crypto-indexecutive. industry and have killed off a third of those alt coins. As a result, crypto investments have consolidated to the few stronger surviving coins like Bitcoin. In fact, Bitcoin's value as a percentage of all crypto is now at its highest point in years. That's why we're calling this the Mosquito Rally. Bitcoin, it survived the extinction event, which made it only stronger. Jack, can you and that fantastic looking T-boy merch outfit whip up the takeaway

for T-Boy Tuesday. This is a Catwalk or a podcast studio. I'm giving it five stars looking bright. For our first story, Yeti's Kiss is the second major band to launch a concert tour starring their holograms. It's working for Abba already because community killed the Metaverse. For our second story, Alaska Airlines. They acquired Hawaiian Airlines for a price that investors disliked.

But Alaska may become the aerial toll booth to get to Hawaii. And our third and final story is Bitcoin. It's up 150% this year, recently passing $42,000. Call Tom Brady. Hey, Tom, you're back. Matt Damon's already here. We're calling it the Mosquito Rally because Bitcoin survived a crypto extinction, which made it even stronger. But yeties, this pod's not over yet.

Here's what else you need to know today. First, Spotify is sadly cutting another 1,500 jobs, which is 17% of the company. That's the third recent round of layoffs for Spotify. as economics of music streaming continue to be tough. And second, it's Uber. Uber stock jumped on Monday because Uber stock is finally joining the S&P 500. Why did it take so long? Because you must be profitable to join that elite stock market index.

And Uber finally is. No asterisk. And finally, Beyonce's Renaissance tour concert movie just brought in $21 million at the box office. That's a fraction of what Taylor Swift's concert movie brought in, but it's still the number one movie over this past weekend, and it's a concert. But not an avatar. No, it's not. And not a dancing queen.

It was all Beyonce. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by David Pillup from the lovely Bay Area. Yeah, he's ever since Nick and I were born millennials. We've been searching for more superfoods. It's like our life journey. Jack puts honey on his granola, which he puts on his avocado with the blueberry antioxidants. True.

We'll get this. Honey's not only a superfood. It never spoils. In fact, archaeologists have found pots of Egyptian honey in tombs that are 3,000 years old. So the skeptics out there, open up King Tut's tomb. He'll prove to you that honey never spoils. You could bathe in that honey and you're going to be healthier than before you bathe in that honey. Because a chemical within honey is like hydrogen peroxide.

It preserves. Jack, it's like you always say, if it's good enough for Tut, it's good enough for the gut. Remember you said that? If it's good enough for Tut, I wanted it my gut. That was it. I got it. My bad, my bad, my bad. Yeties, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday.

And happy merch day, Jack. Model alert. If you want to look like Nick, go to T-boypod.com slash shop. Yeties, we got T-boy beanies, T-boy crew necks, T-boy t-shirts. It's a fantastic holiday apparel situation. Check it out. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait.

And before we go, a happy belated birthday to our buddy, Avi Mayer, who's in the Presidio of San Francisco. Making some fantastic cold oatmeal and honey, by the way, Jack. Abby, the former co-host of my MC role at your rehearsal dinner event. You're right. That was basically like a podcast in real life with you two. And happy birthday to Teddy Panzer of Montclair, New Jersey. Little Teddy, happy birthday. And a happy sixth birthday to Axel Perani, who is on the way to school in San Mateo, California.

And happy birthday to Faria Rashid in Atlanta, Georgia. And Alec FAM, happy 26th birthday, celebrating. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And happy birthday to Wei Bowen, who's celebrating tomorrow here in the U.S., but she's also celebrating her mom's birthday. Today, she's back in China. So happy birthday to Fangdong and Haifa, China.

And congratulations to Lindsay Kay, who after 18 years is taken on a new job in Stanford, Connecticut. She's now teaching kids. Congratulations and good luck, Lindsay. And congratulations to Connor, who's celebrating a new job in Connecticut. And Patricia Miranda from Brazil just got promoted at a Silicon Valley tech company

Enjoy that win, Patricia. Congratulations to Chuck Rofone, who's been running a yoga business for 10 years in Massachusetts. And just a shout out to Yeti, Linda Oliver, who got stuck on a train and couldn't make it to our live T-Boy show last week, Jack. We missed you, Linda, but we're going to find you

and give you a big hug. And Linda, that's not our final live show. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack Nick and I both on stock of Spotify, ETFs of the S&P 500, and one Bitcoin whose name is Ben.

That and the rock and roll all night were really funny because like when you just speak them, you're kind of like, these are kind of stupid lines. Like, I want a rock and roll all night and I want to party every day. Like, that's not a recipe for happiness. I have the worst hangover ever. What were you doing? I was rock and rolling all day. And then I was partying all night.

It's like, oh, yeah. Well, yeah, that's why you have the hangover. Yeah, that's the issue. Yeah. So, Doc, I don't know what it is. I've had this headache for three years. So I've had your daily routine. I rock and roll all day and I party every night.

I kind of just repeat that every day. It's got to be my goal. No breaks. Every day is the same. And where are you getting the headache? All over.