The Best One Yet - 🌮 “No Bueno” — Taco Bell’s diarreah drama. Phia’s fashion fraud. Data Center Millionaires. +Sleeping Waymos

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

The cyclosporiasis parasite is spreading nationwide… and it’s hitting Taco Bell’s stock.Meet the accidental Data Center Millionaires…. Teachers and farmers are making AI millions.Bill Gates’ daughter’s AI fashion startup was accused of fraud… “Cookie Stuffing” is commission theft.Plus, there’s a bazaar new 911 phone call happening… Passengers fall asleep in Robotaxis.$YUM $RL $META Grab your Tickets to the IPO Tour: Our In-Person OfferingSan Francisco 9/23: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0064AFB5F688BDBoston 10/14: https://tickets.citywinery.com/event/tboy-the-ipo-tour-in-person-offering-8cdhupSeattle 11/4 (21+): https://www.axs.com/events/1446394/the-best-one-yet-ticketsNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Saviche Wednesday, July 15th. The Teddys pod is the best one yet of this is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Well, happy Middler Day, Jack. Middlest day of the Middles month of the year. Not too shabby. Is that right? July 15th, it's a Wednesday. Yeah, middle of everything. You got an older sibling or a younger sibling. This is your day. I actually have both of those things. Yeah, congratulations to you, Jack. You're a middle-right day. Congratulations. In the meantime, though, We got three fantastic stories for the coolest place of capitalism. Jaggle what we got on the show?

For our first story, there's a diarrhea causing parasites spreading nationwide, and it just hit Taco Bellstock. Taco Bellstock. They're choosing to look guilty now instead of really guilty in a week. For our second story, it's Data Center millionaires. Farmers and school teachers are cashing in big on big tech billions. Americans in AI? Show me the money.

And our third and final story is Bill Gates's daughter. She's 23 in the co-founder of an AI. shopping app that is crushing it. But that app, Fia, was just accused of fraud and what are we calling it, Jack? What are we calling it at Gatesgate? Gatesgate? Are we going Gatesgate? But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Are we still workshopping Gatesgate? No, we're good. We're good, Jack. That's the final decision. Yeties, we're seeing a surge in emergency 911 phone calls that are hard to describe. I mean, Jack, it's not a fire. It's not a burglary and it's not actually a crime. In fact, nobody's even in danger. Note someone might be dreaming. Uh, the emergency, a passenger

asleep in a robo-taxie. Riders are falling asleep in the backseat of their robo-cab. They've arrived at the destination, but they're not waking up. There's no driver to shake their shoulders into the wake-ness. And besties, it's happening way more often. In Austin, Texas, home of Tesla, they had 99 emergency phone calls to wake robotaxie sleepers just this year. San Francisco home with a waymo, they've had over 250 of these wake-up calls. And each time, the robo-cab operator tries to wake the passenger with the loudspeople

inside the car. Sir, you're awake. I mean, arrived. Get up. Sir, wake up. But then when they don't wake up, they have no choice but to call the police. Waymo opens the door and the cop gets to wake up that late night party.

So now robo taxis are dialing 9-1-1 because you're robo napping. And they don't know if you're robo dead. I think he just drooled. And that bot can't toss water on your fetal position sleeping face. Is that a pulse? I honestly don't know. Now, full disclosure, I once fell asleep on the L-I-R-R. Yeah, yeah.

I woke up seven stops. passed my station. That actually was an emergency. I think that means you've arrived in London, Jack. Like, that's the Long Island Railroad to London stop. Now, in our opinion, the solution here is obvious. One of those, like, slapers. They're like slap you up.

It's like you push your button, a little hand comes out and hits you. Or an ice bucket locked and loaded in every single waymo. Sir, in three minutes, we're either going to slap you or dump cold ice water on it. So last chance to wake up. Just do a cold plunge. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the North The city's met in a dorm.

They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. 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. For our first story, Taco Bell is stuck in the show. the worst PR imaginable. Wait to hear this. Do their tacos include a parasite that lays eggs causing explosive diarrhea? It's a real headline. Maybe because the feds are investigating. Investors are sick, but we're actually impressed. We'll explain in our takeaway. But Besties, first, you should know that this story has gone viral, literally.

Trigger warning to anyone with GI issues. We've got cyclosporiasis outbreak going on in this country. We're talking nausea, fatigue, bloating, explosive watery diarrhea. Those are the symptoms. And this explosive watery diarrhea lasts weeks, if not months, if you catch this parasite. 31 states have cases this parasitic intestinal disease, at least 3 to 4,000 cases right now. But Michigan is the epicenter of this cyclosporiasis outbreak. We're talking 2,600 cases. 44 people landed in the hospital already. Now, if you think you might have it, see a doctor, because that kind of diarrhea dehydrates you fast. And it's not fatal. though, you just take an antibiotic and you'll feel much better in about a week.

And we should point out it's not transmitted human to human. Although, Jack, no one is going to kiss you if you happen to be sick with this. Now, Nick and I flipped open the medical pages on this one, and it's pretty gross. Yeah, yeah, the medical term for this disease is gross, actually. And here's why. These parasites, they actually lay eggs inside your body, which is why it takes two to 14 days of incubation period for you to start showing symptoms. And that's why it's been so hard to figure out the source of this.

outbreak. I can't remember what I ate two hours ago. Which patient in the hospital is going to remember what they ate two weeks ago? But the Michigan Health Authorities have interviewed 1,000 patients and now say that the leading suspect is, who's guilty, Jack, leafy lettuce. Leafy lettuce. And yes, the CDC's budget cuts last year have slowed the nationwide response. But one brand just became the very unfortunate face of the worst digestive drama this pot has ever seen. Oh, Taco Bell. Federal and Michigan State Authority. are officially investigating the bell. The bell. Like, they brought in the Chihuahua for questioning. Yes, eating a dozen crunch wrap Supremes could send you to the hospital as well. But Jack, this is different. Hey, Chihuahua, Yo Chiaro, some answers, please. Now, cyclospariasis is not a new disease. We know it's contaminated food that spreads it, usually fresh produce. And two Taco Bells in Michigan have confirmed Friday. They're not serving lettuce, cilantro, onion, picotagia, or guacamole, due to a nationwide recall. Now, we should point out, some patients who got sick had not eaten Taco Bell in years.

Yeah, so, Jack, this outbreak definitely goes beyond all the chalupas out there. Maybe it goes to a farm that provides lettuce and produce to Taco Bell, but to other grocery stores and restaurants. Still, Taco Bell's parent, Young Brands, it's down 6% since ghosting lettuce off the menu on Friday. Ironically, Nick, the healthiest part of a Doritos Locos taco, the lettuce is now MIA. Because as Taco Bell put it, the health and safety of our guests is our tuesday. top priority. Dung! The doctor will see you now. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies washing those turnips three times before eating them? Look guilty fast. It's better than being proven guilty, slow. Yeties, as far as we can tell, we're the only one saying this, but Taco Bell

is doing the right thing here. They're acting as if they're the cause, even though they're not sure if they're the cause. Because right now, the outbreak is at 4,000 people. In a week, it could be 14,000 people, or 40,000, or 400,000 people. But by acting early and taking measures to stop the spread Taco Bell, they're limiting their liability. And if authorities end up proving that a Taco Bell supplier or Taco Bell Kitchen was at fault, well, better now than next week. And the best precedent for this? Look at what Chipotle did. The wrong thing. Back in 2015 to 2018, Chipotle experienced various outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. For four years, Chipotle stock slid by 60%. Customers felt disgusted and employees were bummed out. And they still kept the guac extra that entire time.

So talk about they're doing the right thing here. They're looking guilty fast because that's better than being proven guilty slow. It's a short-term stock loss, but a long-term brand boss. For our second story, as some states ban data centers, farmers and teachers are becoming data center millionaires. Here's how Americans feel on data centers right now. Show me the money. But Jack, if we're going to tell this story, can I please recite that incredible Frank Sinatra song

about New York State. You remember that one? If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, except if you're a data center? I think that's how it goes. Because on Tuesday, New York became the first state to ban data center construction. That's right, for one year. If you want to build a data center in the Empire State, no soup for you. No soup for you. Because voters see data centers as tech tyranny. It's going to take your job and raise your electric bill. And give your backyard the real estate equivalent of a wall face and window view. I think they're loud too. I think that humming, your computer heats up, it's like, like not pleasant. As long as they don't do the AOL sound Jack, I think I'm okay with that. But at the same time, New York is passing laws to stop data centers.

Louisiana is passing laws to subsidize them. In 2024, Zuck announced he's building a data center in Louisiana bigger than the Isle of Manhattan. It's called Hyperion, and the estimated price when he announced it was $10 billion. But Jack, then it got up to $27 billion last year. And this week, Zuck confessed this will actually cost $50 billion. Gig-a-what, giga-who, that's a lot of GPUs. And guess what? Louisiana actually gave META a tax break to build this thing. Here's the news, besties. Zuck just scored a PR win for his manifest data name.

I like what you did there. Thank you. I appreciate that. And here's the PR win. Bonuses for school teachers. Because META boasted on Monday that public school teachers near the Hyperion Data Center are each getting $50,000 bonus checks. $50,000. That's more than most of these teachers make in an entire annual salary. Did I just see the librarian bought a Bugatti down there?

Not too shabby. Because this town, Richland Parish, it's a small farm town. Jack, looking at the numbers here, the entire economy, this town produces less than a billion bucks a year. Which means this one data center that Meta is building is equal to 50 times the town's annual GDP. Besties, the sales taxes are already so massive from construction. The town is more money than they even know what to do with.

So they're dishing out the surplus tax revenue to public school teachers in $50,000 one-off bonuses. When I didn't do the rest of the cash, I don't know, probably build a Bubba Gump theme park with all that extra money, Jack. Or dish out free Ford F-150s to every resident like there were Oprah. But speaking of farm towns, Jack, did you see what just went down over in Pennsylvania? One farmer sold his farm for $22 million to Google. Blackstone and Google, actually. Good point.

Those two companies bought 1,700 acres in Northeast Pennsylvania for $586 million to build, you guessed it, a data center. 96 families in total sold their farmland, collected 5.5 mil each on average. These are the accidental AI millionaires. They got data center rich just by letting a data center get built. They also each got one of these. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our money is over in the data center riches? You're saying no to data centers unless you show me the money. Yeties, like with so many physical projects, people's instincts on data centers is nimbie,

not in my backyard. But millions are being made by people who say yes to data centers on their land or in their state. And billions is the cost of actually building out these data centers. And trillions is the valuation of the companies building them. Now besties, these payouts and teacher bonuses, they're one-off. Like the sales taxes, that's going to stop once the construction's actually finished. Data centers create jobs during construction, but require very few workers once they're complete, we should point out. But with Americans' aversion to AI and financial incentives to say NIMBY, There's only one way Americans will say yes. Call up Jerry McGuire and yell, show me the money. Basties, what's your price?

Drop it in the comments. Jack and I, we'll see you after the break. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Fia, the AI shopping browser extension, started by Bill Gates' daughter, was just accused of fraud. It's called cookie stuffing,

and it's a lot naughtier than it sounds. Now, Yetis, last month for our live show, down in lovely Los Angeles, Jack and I almost did a story on the wildest startup of the year. Because one startup had an ensemble cast of investors like nothing we'd ever seen. They hit a $185 million valuation after a Hollywood-level fundraise, Jack. Carly Clause, Halsey, Jay Shetty, Jessica Alba, Shabuzzi, multiple Kardashians. Also, Mindy Kaling, Alex Earle, the chain smokers, and Ice Spice. We're not done.

Sidney, Eileen Goo, Perelton, Priyanka Chopra, dozens more. Famous investors. Jack's not a cab table. That's a Coachella lineup right there. Every investor also had a talent agent. This is the only startup that has an egot, Jack. Like half the investors were nominated by the Academy, I believe. The startup they all invested in was called FIA, the $185 million browser extension that uses AI to find you the best price. Basically, an AI butler that finds a deal on that Christian Dior bag you never could have. It's queer eye meets the eye of Sauron, but if Frodo had a horrible shopping problem. It was founded by two Stanford roommates, Phoebe and Sophia, hence the name Fia.

And Phoebe happens to be Bill Gates' daughter. But next, spoiler. Turns out Paris Hilton, Shaboosey, Sidney, Sweeney, they didn't do their diligence before writing those checks, did they? No, they didn't, Jack, because over the weekend, Bloomberg published accusations of Fia fraud. That Fia stole commissions on sales it didn't have any involvement in. Jack, could you please sprinkle some context onto the... the term cookie stuffing for us? Cookie stuffing is an illegal but well-known practice. That's a total niche niche in e-commerce and could end up getting you in jail. And here's how it goes down. When you

buy something online, let's say a cute top, someone might deserve credit for referring you to that buy. Maybe it's a wirecutter product review. Maybe it's an influencer's IG post. Maybe it's Fia. If their content included a link to buy, it was probably an affiliate link to get the commission they earned. Ah, affiliate marketing, an alternative to advertising for brands to drive sales. But according to Bloomberg, Capital One, and an investigative reporter, Fia cheated in that affiliate marketing game. Their investigation found that if Fia was installed on your browser, it was stuffing its affiliate links into transactions. It had no involvement with. So let's say you go to the Gap.com and buy a sweater. Like, nobody referred you to that. Yeah, 16 Husky pair of Gap Kids

jeans. Why not? Just throwing that out there. Fia would, without your knowledge, sneak their affiliate link in there and take a commission on that sale. Sometimes replacing another publisher's code, basically stealing their commission. Now, after these accusations were published, Fia simply announced they fixed the issue. After 24 hours, they would not do that anymore. In other words, Jack, Fia pretended this was like an accident, right? Like, how would you describe it? This is kind of like a bank robber saying, oh, I thought this was my account that I was taking money from. Thanks for letting me know this isn't my money, I'll only withdraw money from my account from now on. I think we can all move on now. Now, this has happened before. Honey, the deal-finding plug-in that used to be in your browser

that PayPal eventually acquired, they got accused of this too. But in this economy, even the Nepo babies are willing to cheat. Call this scandal Gatesgate. Yeah, Gatesgate. And if this cookie stuffing is proven in court, it could face jail time that's happened before. Our guess, her dad's legal retainer just went up $100 grand a month. Give her take. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at FIA. It's a new thing. Not smart money, not dumb money, cameo money. Yadis, key reason why this Fia story has gone viral online, it's not just because one of the co-founders happens to be Bill Gates's daughter. It's that Fia raised more money from celebrities than any startup we've ever seen. Okay, get this. Fia actually bought a billboard in New York

City with the names of all those celebrity investors on it. Real thing. Yeties, in finance, there's a belief that Wall Street is the smart money and retail investors are the dumb money. But we're wondering if celebrities as equity partners is a new investor type, and we would call it cameo money. Celebrity investors bring the attention, but they don't necessarily bring the vetting. Just like a cameo in a movie. Some celebrity investments are simply surface level. There's smart money, there's dumb money, and then there's cameo money. Jack, could you whip up the take quiz for us for T-Boy Tuesday?

Taco Bell is being investigated in connection to the cyclosporiasis outbreak, but they've already removed produce from the menu. Taco Bell, they're looking guilty fast, but that's better than being proven guilty slow. For our second story, it's the data center buildout. It's resulting in surprise AI millionaires, from farmers to teachers. Because Americans are saying no to data centers unless they go full Jerry McGuire and show me the money. That you were going to say Rod Tidwell. And finally, Fia has been accused of cookie stuffing fraud, stealing commissions and taking credit that they didn't deserve. It's Gatesgate because Fia's cap table was full of cameo money.

But besties, this pod's not over. yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the Tyrannosaurus Rex is officially back on top of the food chain. The most expensive dinosaur in history is now official. Yesterday, a T-Rex skeleton from South Dakota, in nearly perfect condition, was sold at auction for a record $50 million. That beats the Apex Stegosaurus, which had previously beaten T-Rex's record two years ago with a $45 million sale. Even more insulting was that the Stegasaurus was never before. But now T-Rex is back on T-F check. The buyer is still anonymous, although the T-Rex is named Gus. He responds to Gus.

And second, President Trump called himself the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and said he would charge a 20% toll for any passage through the waterway. But less than 24 hours later, Trump canceled that plan. Okay, but here's the new plan with Middle East oil. Middle Eastern countries are building pipelines to avoid the Strait of Hormuz altogether around Iran. It's going to take years, but it should eventually limit Iran's ability to disrupt the global oil market. And finally, the Seattle Seahawks just sold for a record $9.612 billion to a venture capital firm. That's $3 billion more than the previous record.

The previous record was the Washington Commanders. Okay, but here's the big question. Did that VC, Kostla Ventures, buy the Seahawks to save tax money on Open AI stock? Maybe. Because Kostla was one of the earliest investors in Open AI. He has some tremendous financial gains that will come when this company IPOs. But there's a loophole for professional team owners. They can write off 100% of the intangible value of the team, like the player contracts and the media deals.

And then use that loft to offset the gains of something like open AI stock. Let's just say that move isn't included in H&R Block's free online version. You got to upgrade for that one, Jack. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yeti, Marco Finazzi from a lovely Italy. Last week, we covered news of the tiniest street legal car in America that was launched last week by Fiat. And the name of that car is the Topolino, which translates in Italian to Little Mouse. We told you that on the pod last week.

But we didn't tell you that Topolino also happens to be the name in Italian for Mickey Mouse, the Disney character. Which is fitting because the Italian nickname for the tiniest car in Italy, for 90 years, it's been the Topolino. That's been the nickname. But now that Fiat is bringing that car to America for the first time, they've turned the nickname Italians gave it affectionately into the official legal name of the car. From Disney character to car nickname to really. car name. Although I don't think Mickey Mouse, the mascot, could fit inside this thing. Jack, just signed up for an actual test driver of this thing in San Francisco. No joke. One of the first

questions they ask you, do you want ropes on the doors? Or do you want real doors? Pretty funny. I'll take real doors. Yiddies, you're looking fantastic today, Jack, you are glowing over there. Oh, oh, hey you. Are you snoozing in the backseat? Wake up. Get out of that robotax. You got to wake up over there. Yeties, if you got GI issues, which full disclosure, I do. Send this link to the episode into your group chat to let them know that you feel seen. You got a buddy with tummy troubles. Drop this in the group chat. That is how we H-Y-H-D-B-O-I. That's how we grow the show. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. And before we go, a happy 35th birthday to Renee Bueh, and Glendale, California. Renee, this is the hat trick.

Congrats on three years of getting a shout-out on the pod. Happy birthday to Luca Frag, turning eight in Plant City, Florida. Celebrating with the best Pokemon card hand, anybody's ever had. The Charzard always beats the Pikachu. And happy 34th birthday to Noel Garrett in Salt Lake City, celebrating with some cookies. And Sydney Huang is the queen of hotels with the best birthday yet down in Anaheim. And happy birthday to the ultimate bestie, Annika Galani, who's celebrating in New Jersey. And Mike Quillan in Fort Wayne, Indiana, we see your birthday, buddy. Congratulations. Happy birthday to Carrie P. Living it up in Chelsea, celebrating with a long run up and down the West Side Highway. And a congratulations to Ben and Noah in California for all their works

supporting military families with financial education and the resources. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Ford and Disney, and Nick and I both on stock of Chipotle.