The Best One Yet - 🦄 💻 “Masa!” — WeWork’s tech take 2. CNN+’s abysmal launch. Etsy’s craftfolk strike.

Episode Date: April 14, 2022

We’re 4 episodes deep into WeCrashed… so perfect timing that WeWork just revealed their first real tech product. Last month we told ya CNN+ was coming — It’s here now, but it’s just “plus���, no CNN (drop the ‘CNN.’ It’s cleaner). And Etsy was the #2 stock of 2020, but now the craftfolk are going on strike. And FYI: this is our last pod of the week (markets are closed for Good Friday, so we’ll whip up your next TBOY on Monday). $WE $ETSY $WBDGot 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/viewformID: 2126729Learn 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 Thursday, the new Friday, April 14th. Happy 4th, Friday, make that great Friday. Stock markets are closed. Yeah, since stock markets are closed, we're off tomorrow. We are.

And your next T-Boy Snacks Daily Pod, it's going to arrive on Monday. If so facto, though, today, Thursday is the new Friday, literally. And today's pot is literally the best one yet. It's a T-B-O-Y. Jack, what we got for our first story? Nick and I are both five episodes deep into the WeWorks Shmovie on Apple TV Plus. It's good stuff. So perfect timing for this news. WeWork just launched its first true tech product.

Nabe. Massa! 8,000 returns. For our second story, we previewed CNN Plus a month ago on this pod. How is the first ever news streamer doing Nick? Jack, how is it doing over there? Not well. No, it's actually just plus because there's no CNN.

Our third and final story, if you want a Montessori handmade wooden baby walker, Made by Becky in Minnesota. You're going to have to wait. Etsy's crafts, people, they are on strike. Jack, what do we want? Arts and crafts. When do we want it? Elmer's glue.

As soon as it's dried. But Snackers, before we hit that wonderful mix of stars. What a mix to go into the weekend with. Fantastic. The number one trend food in America right now, it's Jello. It's sugar plus water. Put into a mold. That's the trend.

According to New York Magazine, Jello is back, baby. Yeah, there's a start. up in Brooklyn, they're selling boozy jello cakes for $100 bucks online. Jack, how are they selling? They're selling out. Oh, yeah. Over in New York Fashion Week, the highlight last year, Jello hors d'elhoes. Jello is so popping right now that Jellowology is a trending hashtag on Instagram. But here's the thing, Snackers, Jellow. It isn't just a 1950s retro resurgence. Jello goes back to the 1500s, Nick. This is a 16th century revival. Snackers, gelatin, it is an animal product. Happened to be a popular dessert back.

in medieval Europe. Nothing better before getting jousted than having a scoop of gelatin before. But it is the thing. Then Jello brand, that launched in 1897. You could order jelly via takeout delivery, which would be brought to you by horse and buggy. Now, Jllo's key insight over in 1897 was changing the spelling. That was key. That's right. Because gelatin is spelled with a G. And that just looks chemical. Whereas Jllo with a J, that just looks like a party. Snackers, during the pandemic, People went turbo jello. Because it was easier than mastering a sourdough. And it was cheaper than installing a patio in the backyard.

Boom, you mix, you mold, then you tick-tock that jiggle. Everyone wants to watch it. It goes viral. And it's satisfied. It is. There's something mentally cathartic about a successful jello batch. Yeah, you can listen to our pot or you could stare at jello for 15 minutes. Jello is timeless.

Jello is ageless. It's always in style. And best of all, jello is thoughtless. Yeah, it just sits there. And it just wiggles. Let's wiggle our three storms. You're tuned in to snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way.

The snacks about to hear ain't food. It's 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. Right.

Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robahood Financial, LLC, member FINRA slash SIPC. For our first story, WeWork, is back to what it does best. Pretending, I mean trying to be a tech company. Jared Leto, you are a supernova. Massa? He demands $8 trillion return.

We created an end to loneliness. Who's going to run the company? Miguel? Miguel's not going to run the company. We crashed on Apple TV Plus. Snackers, as you can see, Nick and I are obsessed. Okay, we got four episodes in. Have you watched five?

This shmovie shows that WeWork was a startup powered by two egos and some seed capital from benchmark capital. Yeah, and also Anne Hathway doesn't get the respect she deserves. She transformed. Well, I think our brand strategist needs to know that WeWork is elevating the world's consciousness. And that's why I want to be in Vanity Fair. Snackers, WeWork fell apart for a whole variety of reasons three years ago. Adam Newman's smoking pot on his private jet he didn't need. Didn't help.

Yeah, also the economics didn't help. It was a real estate company. clearly, but it wanted a tech company valuation of $47 billion. Well, VC money was going into tech companies and WeWork needed money to grow, so they positioned themselves as a tech company. Clever strategy, dishonest, but clever. Yeah, it kind of worked. But Snaggers, here's the quick takeaway.

Bamboo standing desks and free kombucha. They don't scale like software. So last year, WeWork finally went public for their second time. There you go. But at one-fifth evaluation of their first try. We work made a promise the second time they tried to go public. They said, you know what, we're not just going to rent out desk space. We got more up our sleeves.

Bloomberg yesterday revealed what that more is. It's a new thing called WeWork workplace. WeWork workplace because you can't go wrong with alliteration. Basically, this is a technology to manage employees and physical spaces. Conference room availability is key for white collar companies. Oh, yeah, you got to have it. And clients of WeWork workplace can use this new app to, book conference rooms. But also, to book WeWork conference rooms if everyone's willing to go over there.

Also, it's helping you to, like, analyze the spaces in your office building, like, which conference rooms are, like, actually getting used. Right. Every office has one conference room that everybody hates. Well, data from this new app will reveal that so management can upgrade. Yeah, everyone thinks the succulent in that room's a little bit creepy. Oh, and it doesn't have a whiteboard, so nobody is using it. But this is kind of exciting because WeWork workplace, lets your company use WeWorks conference rooms if your conference rooms are full. Right. So this may be the most important part of the whole software snackers. Your employees can actually book a desk at a WeWork that isn't your corporate office.

Right. If you use this software, you don't just get access to their app. It makes any WeWork building an extension of your company's home office. Now, WeWork announced their first client back in January. Then they mentioned the word software seven times in the press release yesterday because, you know, if you say it, it will happen. Well, WeWork stock is down 30% since they spent. backed themselves onto public stock markets because their office buildings are still only two-thirds occupied. And then Masa spat out his tea because the company stock jumped 7% yesterday on news of

the new software. Begin! Massa! So, Jack, what is the takeaway for our tech buddies over at WeWork. WeWork's latest competitor isn't home offices or office offices. It's Starbucks. Snackers, because Starbucks always called itself the third place. It wasn't your office, it wasn't your home. it was something in between. That's appealing in this hybrid world that we live in because workers aren't going to the office as much, but they're sick of their home office. So WeWork's challenge is to capture that value.

And the way Jack and I see this, they need to become the third place that Starbucks has been. Your closest WeWork isn't your home and it isn't your office either. No. WeWork, it wants to be like a Starbucks. It needs to become the new third place. For our second story, it leaked numbers. They just revealed that CNN Plus, it's had an abysmal launch.

Snackers, streamers aren't subscribing to CNN Plus because they don't want cable TV's leftovers. CNN's journalism, it's often on the receiving end of leaked information. They thrive on leaked information. This time, though, the leak is coming from CNN. Last month, we were telling you about the first ever news streamer that was launching in a big way, CNN plus. But CNBC just got a leak from CNN that just 10,000.

people a day are watching CNN Plus. Okay, just 10,000 people every day are tuning into the brand new first ever news streamer. That's a problem. That is 177th the size of the audience at CNN's cable channel. Yeah, that is a lot smaller than CNN cable. Now, to be fair, CNN Plus just hit Roku on Monday so the numbers could improve. And CNN Plus still hasn't hit Android screens. But $300 million has already been invested into CNN Plus.

to make this thing a streaming success. 300 million was not invested into this pod. No, it wasn't. We would take it, though. But honestly, Snackers, the data is available. Our audience is way bigger than CNN Plus is so far. It's a tough situation for CNN Plus. Oh, and wait, that's not the only leak. According to another league that went to Axios,

layoffs have already been planned at CNN Plus, which is a shame because there's some great journalists working. It's also a shame because CNN Plus is less than two weeks old. It is a baby, infant baby. But CNN Plus belongs to Warner Brothers Discovery, which we just told you has a CEO who's focused on profits. And CNN Plus is not off to a profitable star. So Jack and I are looking at the situation. We're expecting CNN Plus programming to like get moved over to HBO Max sometimes soon.

Our guess, you're going to see a CNN Plus tab within the HBO Max app. But Snaggers, here's what Jack and I find fascinating about this CNN Plus story. We think CNN Plus was doomed from the start for the most ironic reasons of all. It was ironic because CNN Plus didn't include CNN. Yeah, like everyone's joking that CNN Plus is really CNN minus because of those low numbers we just mentioned. But Nick and I think it should just be called plus. Yeah. Because it never included CNN in the first place.

A shocker, the live 24-hour content that you and your parents get every day on the CNN channel, it was never in CNN Plus. Because of broadcast deals with pay TV companies like Comcast, Dish Network and Time Warner Cable and other companies we hate. All the companies you hate. CNN was barred from streaming their best programming on their own streamer. They couldn't do it because of the contract. CNN Plus couldn't have CNN. So like Anderson Cooper 360 on the CNN channel. Everyone loves Anderson Cooper.

That's a famous show. But CNN Plus, they get Anderson's second show about parenting. Anderson, probably a wonderful parent. I'm not sure I'm going to spend 30 minutes watching that. Okay, the lead with Jake Tapper. That's a show on CNN. They get great interviews. You want to watch it.

Popular show on CNN. But CNN Plus, they got Jake Tapper's book club as the new show. Snackers, we're not making these shows up. These are the actual programs on CNN Plus compared to the much more prestigious programs on CNN cable. Right. They're like two degrees away from doing like a Wolf Blitzer show on a reality dog situation. Again, they should just call it plus. Missing the CNN.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at CNN Plus? Streamers demand the best content. Not the leftovers. Not the leftovers. Snackers, Disney, they put their best movies, their best shows, their best shmoovies on Disney Plus streaming. HBO puts all of HBO on HBO Max. But CNN, they didn't put their best stuff on their brand new streamer CNN Plus. And that's a problem because streamers cut the cord.

They are savvy consumers. They cut cable because cable was a bad deal for them. But then here's CNN trying to serve them up cable's leftovers for six bucks a month so you can watch some news anchors book club or Anderson Cooper put like his kids in timeout. We realized at the end of drafting the story that cable is literally in the name CNN. But you can't save your best stuff for cable if you want to win in streaming. For our third and final story, give them the WeWork software for free. Just give it to them for free.

Not six months for a year. Action for our third story, the crafts people of Etsy. The crafts people of Etsy. Just this week, they all went on strike. Well, a lot of them went on strike. Every platform has a favorite child except Etsy. Jack, this is a good one for going into the weekend. A little bit of trivia here.

What was the number two top performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2020? Well, number one was GameStop, right? Or was it Tesla. Oh, it was Tesla. It was Tesla. Number two? I don't know. It was Etsy.

Etsy charming little Etsy just crawling up there to number two top performance stocks. Snackers, we were stuck at home. Some of us were laid off early in the pandemic and people needed to make money somehow. Yeah, plus you needed a mask, but masks were sold out early in the pandemic. So customers started looking in unusual places. Etsy was the answer. You turned that slam and salmon cloth you have in the closet into a craft mask business. and you sold the product on Etsy.

Boom, next thing you know, you're sold out of these slamming salmon masks because they're being sold across the country. And that was something Etsy loved. So Etsy stock soared nine times higher during the pandemic. And the company is now worth $14 billion. Yeah, Etsy is worth as much as one lift. There's 5 million people who sell stuff on Etsy.

And they tend to be craft people. They are. Like craft artisans who love Elmer's glue. On the other side, there's 90 million people who love Artisan. and crash. Yeah. And they buy that Montessori wooden baby walker on Etsy. Well, there you go. 90 million. That's a big user base. But little Etsy, it has been thriving so much in the pandemic. They had the money to drop $2 billion in cash on acquisitions in the last year. We joke that this is a publicly traded farmer's market. But their balance sheet doesn't look like a farmer's market.

It's a farmer's market that's been farm in cash. And that leads nicely into the drama of this week. 14,000 Etsy sellers. Remember, craft folk are on strike. Yeah, because everyone hates a feocrycy. 14,000 craft folk is a tiny little fraction of the 5 million people who sell stuff on Etsy, but it's a growing strike atsy's dealing with. And we notice that a lot of them have started shutting down their online Etsy shops to protest Etsy's new fee. Here's the grievance that these craft folk are protesting. The transaction fee, the commission fee that Etsy charges on every,

transaction. Every time you buy a slam and salmon mask, Etsy's taking a piece of that. Etsy increased the fee from 5% to 6.5%. It's a big deal because just three years ago, the fees Etsy charged the sellers were just half of that. So a few years ago, Etsy was taking $3 of that Montessori Wooden Walker. Now they're taking $6.50. And it's frustrating the sellers even more because Etsy is living its best life. The stock's never been higher. It looks greedy that Etsy is increasing their fees when they're doing better than ever. Now, the Kraft Candler over in Connecticut is upset by this situation, but Jack, what is Etsy, Inc., thinking about this? Their side of the story is they're increasing

the transaction fee so they can spend more on marketing. They're not just keeping it as a profit. Right. Etsy is spending this transaction fee to get more buyers through commercials so that the sellers can sell even more products. That's their pitch. But Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Etsy? Every platform has a favorite child. Snackers, tech platforms, they act like they're a middleman. Uber connects a rider with a driver and they take a fee in the middle. But the reality is each platform, they like one side more than the other. Yeah, each platform, they have a favorite child. Airbnb makes it clear in their IPO paperwork. They said that hosting is at the center

of our business. Hosting is the foundation of Airbnb. Not Airbnb guests, Airbnb hosts. TikTok recently launched a $200 million creator fund showing that they love the creators of the videos more than the viewers. These platforms, they loudly scream who their favorite side is. We love the one providing the content. For Airbnb, the content is homes. For TikTok, the content is the video. For Etsy, the content is the craft good candles.

So you'd think Etsy's favorite child would be the craft phone. But we don't know that. Etsy has not declared who their favorite side of the platform is. They have not shown a commitment to the craft phone. Yeah, every platform, they got a favorite child except for Etsy. At Etsy, nobody feels like the golden child. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the last day of the stock market week? WeWork is launching software to flex their available workspace.

We think their latest competitor is Starbucks, the third place. For our second story, CNN Plus should have just been called Plus. Cordcutters demand the best content, not cable's leftovers. For our third and final story, Etsy's commission fee hike has angered 14,000 craft folk. And unlike most platforms, Etsy's not treating the creators like the golden child. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one sent in by Irma H. and her puppy Rusty from Bosnia. Facebook announced recently that they spend a lot of money on the personal security of one Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah, Snackers, whatever number amount that you had in mind for how much they

spend on security for Zuck, this is more than whatever you were thinking. Personal security budget last year, all paid for by the company that he's the emperor of, was $26.8 million. That is $26.8 million to cover Zuck's bodyguards, private jet, and the guys keep him watch outside his home every night. At least a million dollar of that budget was dedicated to the Winklevye, who I think are still a little eight. I think they're not allowed within like 10,000 feet of them. We know what you're thinking. Warren Buffett, a CEO of a equally valued company.

How much did they spend on his security? Security for Warren Buffett. That clock's in at $300,000, not quite $27 million. It's the one guy they make taste the Coca-Cola before him to make sure it's not poison. Yeah, in Zuck's defense, though, Warren Buffett can defend himself. Have you seen this guy? It's called the Nebraska num chuck. If you know, oh, you know.

Snackers. You looked fantastic this entire week. If you got the Friday off, enjoy it. Have a great weekend. Can't wait. Happy Weister. And before we go, congratulations to Courtney Barrett, the founder of Junk Brants, who is now the workplace alternative mobility director for Walmart.

Perfect timing. And happy birthday to Tiffany Quang in Milpitas, California. And Mayv Winter down in Denver. And Atticus Riley in Williamsburg, Virginia. And Julie Scher and Sia in Southbury, Connecticut. Happy eighth birthday to Joel Chung in Cooper Tina. And Tucker, enjoy the 27th over in Vegas. Happy birthday to Ryan Hemp Hill in Vancouver, Washington, and Nishan Singh in Jersey City.

Happy 31st to Daniel Baker in Asheville, North Carolina. And proceed, happy birthday in Cambridge, Massachusetts. John Pfeiffer down in Chicago is celebrating logistics. And Brittany P. is starting her Michael Jordan year turning 24 down in Texas. Congratulations to Chelsea. She's got a baby on the way and just did her last day of work before maternity. And Liz Stanbrook, enjoy running that first. Ever marathon.

Congrats to Sammy Badang, who's got a new job at Lou Lou Lemon. And Nate Stiles, congrats on the new job in Minnesota. Happy 11th birthday to Rosabelle Volcano Hool in Portland, Oregon. And Sean and Britt, they got the four-year anniversary down in Denver. And happy 10th anniversary to Brian and Jacqueline, down in Miami. And Jackie and Chris just got engaged in North Carolina. The Golden Retriever was there to witness. Big shout out to close the pod to Kevin Dewey.

Kevin squeezed out the last bit of toothpaste. just as we were talking about squeezing out the last bit of toothpaste. He's icing his thumbs. I don't know. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb. I own stock of Amazon and Disney and Nick own stock of Apple and Lulu Lemon. 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 principal and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.

Massa!