The Best One Yet - 🔮 “New Richest Human” — Oracle’s 40% surge. Ralph Lauren’s AI nepobaby. “Got Milk?” 30th b’day. +Pokemon Card investors.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, September 11th. 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. Yeties, we know that it is a heavy moment right now in the headlines. It was already a sad day, as it is every September 11th. Now it's also a tense day after the murder of political influencer and podcast host Charlie Kirk. It's a lot and it's heavy. It is. But Nick and I prepared three fantastic pop business news. news stories for today's show, and we're excited to hit them with you. So, Jack, what do we got for our first story? For our first story, the biggest surprise on Wall Street yesterday was Oracle. The stock surged 40% the moment the market opened. And that 40% surge means we have got a brand new, richest human on Earth.

Starting point is 00:00:49 For our second story, can we talk about Ralph Lauren? Please. The inventor of the polo shirt is at an all-time high thanks to its new AI wardrobe. Honestly, Jack and I aren't shocked. because Ralph Lauren is actually one of the most innovative brands in fashion history. And our third and final story, Got Milk. It's arguably the most successful ad campaign of all time. And 30 years after the first Got Milk Milk Mastash, we are having another real milk moment.

Starting point is 00:01:18 Wait, did you call it a mustache? Ah, the emphasis was on the wrong solvable, Jack. But yet is, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories. Love the mix today, Jack. Stocks are surging at ATHs. All-time highs. Crypto is crushing it right now also at an all-time high. Gold too. But the best performing asset on Earth right now is fictional. Because the best performing asset is Pokemon

Starting point is 00:01:42 trading cards. Get this. Since 2004, Pokemon cards, if kept in mint condition, have seen a return of 3,821%. It's pokey cards are up nearly 40x right now. That's eight times better than the S&P 500 over the same period. I mean, Jack, if you bought Facebook stock on its IPO day, you would have been better off buying Bulbosur. It's true. By like 2x, actually. How's your portfolio, Greg?

Starting point is 00:02:09 Well, I'm long, Pikachu, so yeah, it's strong to quite strong. One mint-conditioned Pikachu was actually bought for $5.3 million. Holy Charzard! So according to Wall Street Journal reporting, people are put in their real money into fictional characters. The WS.J interviewed a Pokemon collector in Arkansas who is buying up cards to eventually pay for his five kids to go to college. What about baseball cards?

Starting point is 00:02:35 Yeah, those are up too. But Pokemon characters have less risk than baseball cars. True. Because Charzard isn't getting injured anytime soon. And Squirtle won't get a DUI ruin the whole card's value. Our biggest regret, it's that we snor laxed on this opportunity 20 years ago. Jack, you got to catch them all. That's not a catchphrase, though.

Starting point is 00:02:55 That's actually an investment thesis. To be clear, not financial advice. Just financial regrets. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm.

Starting point is 00:03:12 Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

Starting point is 00:03:34 For our first story, wild surprise on Wall Street yesterday. Oracle's stock jumped 40% after the most bullish earnings report we have ever heard. And that means Larry Ellison, someone you've probably never heard of, has become the world's richest person. Yeties, here's the question everyone on Wall Street was asking yesterday. Is Oracle the new Nvidia? Based on their latest earnings, apparently. Yeah, because on Tuesday, the software brand Oracle said in the last three months, they signed deals worth $300 billion.

Starting point is 00:04:19 I'm going to sprinkle on some context. You're going to have to check. $300 billion in three months, that is six times more revenue than they've ever done in a full year. Oracle booked more money in the last three months than Uber has made in its entire life as a business. Here's a quote from the CEO yesterday. We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in the first quarter. Okay, that is so much money. Jack and I just have to ask, who are these three companies exactly? Who drops $100 billion on an order? Is it Rich You Rich, Taylor Swift, and the Monopoly, man?

Starting point is 00:04:54 Well, we did find out the first customer is Open AI. And the other two are probably meta and XAI. They're renting Oracle servers to compute the AI needed to answer all those queries you're typing into those chatbots. Because as we told you before, Yeties, in the AI goal. Rush, you want to sell shovels. And Oracle just sold $300 billion worth of shovels. Yeah, I love that shovel analogy. You got another one though, Jack? I do. It's a game of musical chairs in tech right now. But instead of chairs, AI companies are fighting for the scarce servers, and Oracle's got a bunch of them. I like what you did there. Now, Basties, as a couple of retired X finance guys, can I say retired?

Starting point is 00:05:33 I am tired, but I'm not retired. Jack and I also want to share one, huge financial caveat here. That $300 billion isn't cash in the bank yet. It's just contracts with Oracle to get paid over the next five years. So pause the pod for a second, Jack. Is it common for companies to boast about money that they won't actually be paid for five years? No, especially in industries like AI, which are so volatile and unpredictable. Just look at Nvidia, the leader in AI. They don't even do financial forecasts beyond one quarter from now. And yet Oracle just did a financial forecast 20 quarters out. Five years. Oracle literally just answered the question, where do you see yourself in five years, even though nobody asked them. A bold promise indeed,

Starting point is 00:06:20 but investors ate it all up. The stock jumped up to 40% yesterday, which is the best day for Oracle stock in 33 years. They licked it all up. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Oracle? Larry Ellison just passed Elon Musk to become the world's richest man. Now, Yetis, if you have heard of Larry Ellison, it's probably related to his colorful personality, his tabloid headlines, or his goatee. Okay, this is our take, but his facial hair is the same as Iron Man. And he's also got a black turtleneck, Steve Jobs style. Okay, Larry Ellison is so rich, he owns an entire Hawaiian island with a four-season's hotel on that island that pays him rent. I've been, it's awkward.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Last year, Larry Ellison's wife used his money to pay a high school quarterback to play on the University of Michigan to boost the recruiting class. Okay, and then Larry Ellison's son took more of his dad's money and bought an entire media company Paramount. But Larry Ellison is also a Silicon Valley legend. Because not only did he found Oracle 48 years ago, he still owns 41% of the company. That's wild. He still owns nearly half the company. He put his money on the line to build a boring server and enterprise business, but it is paying off massively in the AI age. He also crucially hired Saffra Katz to be the CEO in 2014, and the stock has nearly 10xed since she came on board. And with Wednesday's 40% stock surge, Oracle is now worth nearly a trillion dollars.

Starting point is 00:07:48 And Larry's 41% stake is worth $400 billion. Which means Larry Ellison just passed Elon Musk to become the world's richest man. The servers are boring, but the equity is exciting. For our second story, the hottest fashion brand in the world right? now, it's shockingly, Ralph Lauren. They don't have Sydney, Sweeney, or Travis Kelsey. True, true, true. But Ralph Lauren has David Lauren. Yes. A tech early adopter. Yeties. Oh, I'm sorry, pause. Are you going to wear orange? I didn't know you were wearing orange. Jack, you know it's New York Fashion Week? Is that what you're really going to wear today?

Starting point is 00:08:27 Orange is the new iPhone color. I figured it was on trend. It is New York Fashion Week. So don't be surprised if you see Miranda Priestley strutting around Soho, but then Gers Your Loins. Because 2025 has been an ugly year for fashion because of the trade war. LVMH, their stock's down 10%. Abercrombie, they're down 30%. The gap, they're flat. But there's one exception, and it's wearing a pink cable-knit popped collar. Lovely. It's Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren. Because Ralph just announced revenue rose 14% last quarter. The stock is up 30% this year. To an all-time high. Now, you'd think that Ralph Lauren, and its iconic Americana style, would be the target for anti-USA sentiment from trade war opponents.

Starting point is 00:09:12 But you'd be wrong because sales in Europe and China surged for Ralph Lauren as well. Apparently, polo shirts are more important than geopolitics. Jack, I believe we've said before that nothing transcends trey earths like a pleaded khaki. We have not, but we just did. I knew something was off. Now we have, now we have. But besties, the story here that fascinated us actually goes deeper than a cashmere cardigan. Because Ralph Lauren is the ultimate early tech adopter in the fashion industry.

Starting point is 00:09:39 That's right. This week, Ralph launched Ask Ralph, a conversational AI stylist in the Ralph Lauren app. So instead of whipping out your phone to Google what pairs well with my double-breasted polo blazer, you can just ask Ralph. It actually used Ralph Lauren's real Ralph real input for this AI bot, too, didn't they, Jack? Yeah, because Ralph Lauren isn't Tommy Baham. It's actually a real person. Yeah, and this Ralph bot will now say it's okay to wear white. after Labor Day, just like the real Ralph Lauren would. Although Ralph did partner with Microsoft

Starting point is 00:10:09 and Open AI to build Ask Ralph. However, Yetis, is Jack and I dove in T-boy style? We discovered Ralph Lauren actually has a long history of embracing new technology really early. Ralph was the first major American fashion brand to attach QR codes to labels that we never ended up using. In 2010, Ralph Lauren hosted a holographic runway show straight out of Star Wars. In 2015, they invented a $300 smart polo shirt with sensors to track your body's biometrics. Oh, and in 2019, they created an augmented reality lens on Snapchat. Eat your heart out, Everlane. But before all that, in the year, Y2K, Ralph Lauren was one of the first luxury fashion brands

Starting point is 00:10:51 daring to sell their product online. Polo.com. One of the very first e-commerce websites. They actually almost shut it down because they didn't get orders over $50. Like everyone was afraid to give up their credit card info. Well, no one had ever done it online. Yeah, it was freaky. So besties, add it all up.

Starting point is 00:11:08 And Ralph Lauren is the surprise early tech adopter of the fashion industry. And it's all thanks to one man. And that one man is not Ralph Lauren. No. It's another Lauren. So, Jack, what's the takeaway? Real person. For our buddies over at Ralph Lauren.

Starting point is 00:11:26 Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren is a defense of neopreneers. Yet he's, guess. who was behind all those innovative risks over the last 25 years. It was Ralph Lauren's son, David Lauren. From the website to the QR codes to the current AI chatbot, David Lauren pushed Ralph Lauren forward. And it got Jack and I thinking, you know, nepo babies get a tough rap and neopreneurs do too. They're the founders' kids who grew up with the business and got a cush job right just handed to them. But growing up inside the company can be a real advantage, actually. Because these neoppreneurs, they know,

Starting point is 00:12:00 almost in their bones, what is best for the brand? And if the brand runs in your blood, you also have an emotional desire to see it succeed that non-family members don't. Also, if expectations are higher, maybe you find a niche that you can focus on that's different from your parent or your siblings, and you excel at it.

Starting point is 00:12:16 Yeties, in our other show, the best idea yet? Armease, Harley-Davidson, L.O. Bean, jacuzzi. All these companies had midlife crises, but got saved by neppopreneurs, the children or the grandchildren of the founders. And now, Ralph Lauren does too. The stock is at an all-time high, thanks to the son who drove the company into the 21st century. Everyone rips on Nepo babies, but Ralph Lauren shows they can actually bring someone, no one else can, to the table.

Starting point is 00:12:44 To the table that their dad paid for. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the most iconic ad campaign in history just turned 30 years old. Got Milk. And now the Got Milk mustache is coming back for Gen Z. And once again, milk is hot. But Jack, in order for us to tell

Starting point is 00:13:13 this story, let's go back to 1995. Could you please set the scene for us? eBay had just been founded in Silicon Valley. Friends had just debuted on cable TV, and we were all singing Gangsters Paradise by Coolio. And also, every word was getting an E in front of it because that was the thing to do. Yeah, email, e-commerce,

Starting point is 00:13:33 Bay. We could go on, but we won't. Because that same year, Big Dairy paired together the two biggest words in ad history. Got milk. Got milk. It's a question, I think. It is. Because at the time, milk sales in the 90s, they were actually slowing down. So the California farmers got together and didn't promote any one milk brand. They promoted the whole milk category. With got milk. The very first got milk ads, they were focused on FOMO. The concept was life in the absence of of milk is not a life you want to live. They showed cookie monster in despair as he had no milk to dip his cookies.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Existential crisis, this is. Now, eventually, Got Milk expanded nationwide, and they launched the Milk Moustache. And those ads were strategic because they barely showed the product, who was only the upper lip of a celebrity from Michael Jordan to Britney Spears to Kermit the Frog.

Starting point is 00:14:24 Every celebrity, you made it when you got a Got Milk ad. You couldn't open a magazine in the 90s without seeing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air with the Milk Moustache. Sad fact, wasn't real milk. I think it was like Elmer's glue they put up there. Don't ruin my dreams, Jack. But besties, all of this campaign was funded by dues

Starting point is 00:14:40 paid by the dairy farmers nationwide. And that Got Milk campaign, it was a demonstrable hit. 90% brand recognition across the United States. It boosted dairy sales from butter to cottage cheese to whole milk to 2%. This is huge because the milk industry had outsmarted Coca-Cola at the marketing game.

Starting point is 00:15:00 But here's the news. After 30 years, the Got Milk campaign is coming back with Whole Milk Mojo. Yeah, because in a surprise twist of innovative fate, plant-based milk is now losing to real milk. I never thought I'd see this, but Nick ordered a latte with whole milk, not oat milk. Yeah, it was a double-digit decaf, but I went with the whole. Dairy milk sales have stopped their decades-long decline, while plant-based milks are actually declining now. They were down 6% this year. Only, which invented oat milk, their stock has.

Starting point is 00:15:31 down 97% in 2025. They're getting disrupted by milk, which used to be the disruptee. The disruptor is getting disrupted. And there's three reasons for what we're calling the moo milk comeback. First, it's inflation. Oh, soy almond milk? All of that is an upcharge, even that almond pit milk we told you about last year. Second is maha. There's new consumer skepticism of processed foods, but there's trust in cows. And finally, it's the protein maxing moment, isn't it, Jack? Everyone is pumping or sprinkling protein into their diet. And where does that way protein come from exactly? Way with an H comes from cows. It does. And you're doubling up on fair life milk these days. So inflation, maha, and protein maxing. That's why regular old cow milk is making a comeback. And that's why

Starting point is 00:16:18 30 years later, milk has found its mojo and is growing back its mustache. Moustache. Moustache. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in advertising? Got milk. invented the meme. Yeties, this is wild. But the ad agency Goodby and Silverstein that came up with the got milk idea, they actually hated it. The ad people at that firm told the New York Times, first of all, it wasn't grammatically correct. And second of all, it was a lazy concept. Yeah, they called their own idea lazy. And you know what? For logical reasons, this got milk ad, it should not work. And yet it did. And the reason we think it was the original template of a meme. It was repeatable, relatable, and in a shareable format.

Starting point is 00:17:04 Anyone can wear a milk mustache. The creativity is in the who and what pose. Derek Jeter did it while throwing out a guy at first base. Ultimately, good ads stir up a feeling. And for Got Milk, it was the joy of discovering which polished adult will end up acting like a kid. By wearing a milk mustache. Simplicity of Got Milk was its success. It's a format, not a message.

Starting point is 00:17:28 And that's why it was the first meme marketing. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Oracle is the breakout new star in AI, getting $300 billion in orders from OpenAI, Meta and XAI. And now founder Larry Ellison made $100 billion in one day to pass Elon as the world's richest man. For our second story, Ralph Lauren Stock hid an all-time high the same day they launched a style chatbot, ask Ralph. It's all thanks to Ralph's son, because sometimes Nepo Babies bring something to the company, others can't. although their dad's going to kill them if they scratch the company. Mom, he took my IP!

Starting point is 00:18:07 And our third and final story is Got Milk. It's making a 30-year anniversary comeback, and so is Milk. The reason for Got Milk's success? Got Milk was the first meme marketing. But Besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Klarna, the buy now, pay later, darling, went public on Wednesday and the stock jumped 30% on its first day of trading.

Starting point is 00:18:30 We've covered Clarna a few times, recently with their buy burrito now, but pay for burrito later promotion. Klarna's revenue has doubled to $3 billion since the pandemic, but its valuation has fallen by two-thirds down to around $15 billion. Fun fact, the Swedish co-founders of Klarna got the idea for Buy Now Pay Later while flipping burgers at Burger King. True story. And second, forget Waymo for a moment.

Starting point is 00:18:55 Zooks is the wild new self-driving robo-taxie that you got to know. Zooks is owned by Amazon, and they just launched Rhymo. Hill Service in Las Vegas on the strip. You can book now. Now, the reason this is so wild, Zooks designed their own car, and it looks like a giant toaster. Partly because there's no front or back, both sides are the same. It's symmetrical. And there's no steering wheel and no pedals. And finally, the new batch of emoji have been confirmed. That's right. Next year, we are getting Bigfoot, an orc a trombone, and a treasure chest. Open treasure chest or closed treasure chest. And if you type in killer whale, will the orca show up or do you have to type in orca?

Starting point is 00:19:36 The answer to all that is none of the above, Jack. But you can finally text me that you are seeing Bigfoot playing a trombone inside of a treasure chest. I noticed you dodged the orca question at the end there. It's all good. Now, Yeti's time for the best fact yet, which Jack and I, like we do every year, wanted to share something we whipped up for you because it's September 11th. Not all our listeners may remember or were around for what happened on September 11th. to 2001. Jack and I do, and we were around, and we've shared it with you before on this pot. We were in eighth grade. Nick was in New York City. I was in Vermont. We remember when the

Starting point is 00:20:09 teachers came into the classroom to explain what had happened. And remember seeing the smoke. You could see it from our school. Now, it's the 24th anniversary of the attack, so we wanted to highlight a particular sign of resilience that we were excited about. After the two towers fell, downtown Manhattan was a disaster zone. And the discussions at the time, will New York City ever recover from this. More specifically, will anyone ever go downtown to the financial district of Manhattan ever again? Well, guess what? Since the attacks in 2001, the population of lower Manhattan has more than doubled. Get this, from 32,000 full-time residents to over 60,000 full-time residents. In fact, the FIDI isn't really a financial district anymore. It's a 24-7 living and working

Starting point is 00:20:52 neighborhood. It's a win to celebrate. 24 years ago, most thought no one would ever return to those blocks, but today it's a thriving family area. And every year on this day, we remember the heroes of September 11th. Yettys, you look fantastic today. And if you're sitting on a Charzard rookie card right now, we know exactly what you should go check out. We did a whole episode on Pokemon. We did. 45 minutes long. Yeah. They used to stand for pocket monster. That's why they call it Pokemon. And to get more of those gems, check out the best idea yet our weekly show for our deep dive on the Pokemon. It was our most requested episode. ever and we delivered totally.

Starting point is 00:21:31 So go check it out and Jack and I will see you right back here for the Real Friday. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Hannah Piazza, great name, celebrating in Long Beach, New York. Happy birthday to Gary Murphy in New York City. And Trish Mahler over in Sussex, Wisconsin has got the best birthday yet.

Starting point is 00:21:54 Happy birthday to Rochelle Doca in Jersey City, New Jersey. And a congratulations to Yeti Christina Kong, who's starting her senior year awarding and Jack, she's been a legendary bestie for years. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, and Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500.

The Best One Yet - 🔮 “New Richest Human” — Oracle’s 40% surge. Ralph Lauren’s AI nepobaby. “Got Milk?” 30th b’day. +Pokemon Card investors.

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