The Best One Yet - 🍭 “No more candy eCigs” — Juul’s $40M settlement. United’s more legroom. Foxconn’s 8th wonder.

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

Juul is paying up $40M for its role in the teen vaping epidemic. United Airlines just made the biggest airplane order in a decade. And Foxconn was supposed to build the “8th Wonder of the World” in Wisconsin… but it didn’t.$UAL $MOGot 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/viewformLearn 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 Wednesday, June 30th. House prices. Record prices. Stock prices. Record highs.

Snacks Daily prices. Still free. Also, it's our best one yet. For our first story, Jewel has reached the first of many settlements for the vaping lawsuits out there. Jewel, they move fast and they broke mango flavored things. For our second story, United Airlines just ordered 270 planes. The biggest airplane order in a decade. We've never seen anything like this because, get this.

Instead of less leg room, it's a moment. more legroom situation. For our third and final story, Foxca was supposed to build the eighth wonder of the world in Wisconsin. It's actually about the eight millionth wonder of the Wisconsin.

But Snackers, before we hit those three stories. It's such a good mix today, Jack. I'll tell you what I want. What you really, really, really want? What you really, really, really want. What you really, really, really want to Zig Zig. Yeah, that's because it's the 25th anniversary

of the Spice Girls becoming a thing. Will Galperin, a great snacker, noticed that 25 years ago, the Spice Girls launched their first single wannabe. It was one, two, three. And then they sold 80 million records worldwide since debuting back in 1996, great year. Which means that the Spice Girls is the best-selling girl group of all time.

If so facto, the Spice Girls get the assist on England's Eurocup win against Germany yesterday. I think they at least get an assist or two. But Snackers, here's the funny thing that Jack and I noticed about the Spice Girls. Most people think the songs from the Spice Girls are about love. You'd be wrong because, get this, their songs, are also lessons on mergers and acquisitions. For instance, spice up your life. Great single. That song is actually about the driving force behind a successful corporate deal.

Buy a company to spice up your life. How about the single, too much? Too much. Classic lesson about price negotiations, which can make or break a merger. Exhibit C, yes. To become one. That's actually the literal definition of an acquisition. The spice girls weren't just talking hearts. No, no, no, no. They were also talking dollar signs. Let's in our three stories. Sika, Zika.

We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. It snacks about the hearing food is air candy. They don't reflect the views of the Robin Hood family. It's all informational just so you know. 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. Robohood Financial, LLC, member FINRA slash SIPC. For our first story, Jewel, just research. its first settlement in the epic teen vaping lawsuits. And the settlement could send a bad message about moving fast and breaking things. 2018, remember the year. Well, Jack, three out of four vape puffs were coming out of a jewel. And Joel employed the classic market strategy since their launch, which was

act like a kid's cereal company. By the way, Jack, we just exposed that we don't smokey cigarettes because I believe I said vape, I'm not even sure that's a verb. I don't think that's what the kids say. Don't worry. I won't tell on you. In the meantime, Jack and I I consider this a classic cereal strategy. They acted like a fruity pebbles or a cookie crisp when it came to vaping. Jules sold their products in colors that looked like skittles in flavors that were literally mango and creme brule. We're talking flavors that are yes, magically delicious. We're surprised they didn't hire a cookie crisp mascot. Well, let's just hand things over to Tony the coffer. Jules' insta posts showed magnificent looking teens partying hanging on to vapes and looking really cool.

Oh, and in case you're not certain about our little serial analogy here, get this. The Massachusetts Attorney General alleges that Jewel bought ads on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. But, Nick, Jewel was literally influencing our young people with influencers. We're talking on social media. Jewel got 12,500 influencers to spread it all like they were spreading the cocoa puffs. Jewel's fine work led to the vape epidemic we have among teens still today in the U.S. Get this, according to the CDC. You now got one out of five high schoolers who're addicted to vaping.

That's according to a September report. And that's why we have 39 states and the FDA accusing Jewel in court of marketing to get kids addicted to high nicotine e-cigarettes. So you add all that up. And that leads to the WAPA news that just came out this week about Jewel. On Monday, Jewel reached their first major settlement with the home of tobacco, North Carolina. We're talking North Kakalaki, North Carolina. a jewel is going to have to cough up $40 million to the state of North Carolina.

They also made a few promises, including a promise not to use any models under the age of 35 and any marketing for Jewel. And it wasn't the only promise they made. They also said, hey, we noticed that the kid making minimum wage behind the counter of your local North Carolina bodega probably isn't checking IDs too hard these days. So to make sure e-sigs aren't sold to underage teens, Jewel is going to have to pay a thousand quote unquote mystery teens their words to roam North Carolina and see if they can buy vapes underage. It sounds like a Nickelodeon show, a thousand mystery teens testing whether they can buy jewels from unbeknown store owners.

It's your classic sting operation. And then for online sales, Jewel is going to partner with a third party age verifier to make sure kids under 18 can't order jewels online. In the meantime, summer job, mystery jewel checker. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our budget? buddies, I don't even know if we should call him buddies, over at Jewel. Jewel is sadly a move fast and break things success story.

Snackers, Facebook Zuckerberg coined the term move fast and break things and ends justify the means kind of a thing. And then Travis Kalanick at Uber sucked Mark's idea and he moved fast and broke taxis. Well, look at both companies in Uber and Facebook. They're living their best lives. Both stocks are at or near record highs these days. Jule took the move fast and break things mentality and applied it to East. cigarettes. So here's what we're thinking. Even if each state fines Jewel, $40 million just like North Carolina did, that's just going to end up being a $2 billion fine for Jewel. How big is $2 billion?

I'll tell you, Jewel can afford it because they sold 35% of themselves, just 35% to the Marlboro Man Altria itself for $12.8 billion in 2018. Oh, and get this, Jewel doesn't mind if it doesn't get as many new smokers because it still enjoys almost half the vaguely. market as customers. Oh, and those customers are literally addicted. So, settlements like this continue, we think it probably won't deter future wrongdoers from pulling a jewel from moving fast and breaking things. For our second story, aisle or window? Window, through and through. I love the window. Don't try to take the window. I'm just so sorry you got this answer wrong, Jack. United Airlines just made its biggest order of airplanes ever in its

history. Apparently, Nick's got an overactive bladder. New strategy. for United. If you want demand for your profit puppy, just go ahead and create it like United Airlines. I mean, I'm not going to apologize for wanting to stretch my legs and not bother my fellow seatmates. Actually, you're bothering anyone trying to pass through the aisle, Nick, who has to jump over your feet? Hopscotch style. I actually got 3,000 steps on one flight once. True story. Don't tell me you're one of those yoga in the aisle downward dog guys. Never mind. That doesn't actually exist. Snackers, United called up its buddies over in Washington. said, you know what, we're in the mood for, we'd love to buy about, give or take,

200 new Boeing aircraft. I'd like an airplane. 200 of them. Oh, and 70 more from Europe's airplane maker Airbus. You may want to use the credit card points for this one, ironically. You could buy Schitt's Creek with those reward points. Put it on the MX Platinum. Trust us.

You want the hotel benefits. That's $30 billion worth of flying metal, the largest order for airplanes in a decade. Snackers, if you're flying United, United is now going to have an extra 100 new flights a day with 30% more seat capacity per a departing flight. That's right, because they're replacing some old planes with much bigger planes. And that's also going to require 25,000 new workers at United Airlines. But here's the thing. That's not even the shocking news. What fascinated Jack and me was this welcome change. This is the great news. United is not going to

reduce the amount of space you have to squeeze into on the airplane. They're actually adding space for passengers. This is a complete reversal of every airline strategy in the last 20 years. They're not treating you like a sardine. They're treating you like a king salmon. Okay, these new planes are going to boost total capacity for United by 30%. But the amount of premium capacity is going to grow by 75%. That's right. Oh, and that's not even the biggest deal. You know your carry-on bag anxiety, which we all have a check. The only reason I'm quick to get in front of the line to get on an airplane is to make sure I have space for my away carry-off. The only only reason, Overhead Cabin is arguably the greatest real estate at 35,000 feet.

United just set an ambitious goal of a one-to-one ratio of seats on the plane with room for your suitcase in the overhead bin. That's right, Snackers. With that one-to-one ratio, you're not going to have the same stress of, like, crowding the flight at the gate just to get in so you can beat out Bobby to stick your away suitcase up there. First time we've seen it. More legroom, not less legroom. Oh, they're also tossing in a screen on every seat and like super fast Wi-Fi kind of stuff. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at United States? Demand can be like James Earl Jones in the field of dreams.

If you build it, they will come. Snackers, last week, we told you how air travel in the U.S. in June is 74% back to normal. But that's mostly leisure travel, like vacations. It's different for business travel. Bill Gates has predicted that half of business travel, which is key, is never coming back. And the reason is Zoom. A year of work from home means you might not need to physically go to Albuquerque for the insurance convention. Just going to zoom into that thing.

But United CEO thinks something totally different. He just said that business and international travel will ultimately come back 100% and he's seeing evidence of it. He even predicts that next year will be a record-breaking year of international travel, another profit puppy for the airline. So we think a key reason why this was such a history-making huge deal, simply the marketing value. Dedicated space for your suitcase and great Wi-Fi, that may convince you to fly from JFD, to London next summer. United's splurge deal is already creating a whole bunch of newsbuzz, perhaps even convincing a nervous flyer, it's okay to think normal business flying has resumed. United isn't just predicting record demand. They might be creating it.

For our third and final story, you got the pyramids in Egypt and you got Foxconn, which was supposed to build the eighth wonder of the world in Wisconsin. It didn't do that. No. So we're updating you now. But before we can update you, Snackers, if you got an Apple device on you, turn it over and check the back of that Apple device. It's going to say it was designed in California, but assembled in China. Tim Cook's got one tattooed on the left thigh, one on the right thigh. Specifically, they were assembled at Foxcon's Chinese manufacturing facility. Also, specifically, it's the upper right thigh and the upper left thigh.

Taiwan-based Foxcon is what we're talking about. And that company has done to electric manufacturing what Henry Ford did to car making. We're talking precise, efficient manufacturing at scale aided by low labor costs. But perhaps Foxcon became most relevant when they announced they were going to take their talents to the Midwest, expanding to the United States, or so they said back in 2017. Interesting. Now, with this new Foxcon operation in the United States, they weren't going to make iPhones. No, that production is going to stay in China. But the ultimate manufacturing company on Earth instead was going to build large screens in the Midwest in Wisconsin.

The Foxcon factory in Wisconsin was going to make screens for cars, for TVs, and other electronics. I mean, even your fridge now has a screen. They were probably going to make it. And Foxcon announced plans to hire up to 13,000 people for this huge new factory just south of Milwaukee. I mean, we cover this in snacks. This was such a big deal that Foxcon got the number one, number two, and number three in presidential line of succession to attend their Wisconsin announcement. Then President Donald Trump called the plant factory, the eighth wonder of the world. And then Wisconsin came along and said, we'd love to fund this eighth wonder of the world. We'll give you some huge tax benefits and some incentives. Four billion dollars worth of benefits from the state, the county, and the town.

To basically buy those new jobs. But we've got an update on the eighth wonder of the world. Wisconsin and Foxcon have renegotiated to a much, much less exciting and much, much less ambitious deal. Get this, Snackers. Instead of up to 13,000 manufacturing jobs from the greatest fact that, on Earth in Wisconsin, here's what may happen. Wisconsin would be thrilled for one and a half thousand jobs. That's it.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Foxcon? Transactional economic development is a powerful tool, but it can backfire. Yeah, Snackers. In April, Foxconn and Wisconsin actually renegotiated this whole eighth wonder of the world factory and decided it would be 90% smaller. It's like the architect saying, that Taj Mahal we plan to build, it's actually going be a shed instead. Ah, kind of disappointing for all of humanity. Foxcon doesn't have a great reason for why they're not doing it in Wisconsin like this. They're going to, but the worst part might be the collateral

damage to the people of Wisconsin. And get this, Snackers, the state of Wisconsin has already spent a whopping $1 billion to buy the land, prep this site, and get the infrastructure for this new Foxconn plant. For the new plant, that's going to be one-tenth the intended size. And that's why the county and town have been slapped by credit ratings agencies with downgrades because they're saddled with so much debt. Which leads to a big lesson for the officials over in Wisconsin. One-off payments in exchange for jobs, that's not a desirable way to do it. Instead, they could have focused on the workforce development, the infrastructure, business-friendly policies, according to CNBC reporting. In the future, they plan to focus on policies, not deals. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways

for us over there? Jewel has settled with North Carolina for their alleged causing of the teen vaping epidemic. It's kind of a messed up, move fast, and break things success story. United Airlines is adding 30% more capacity with a bunch of new airplanes. For business travel, if you build it, they may come. Foxcom was supposed to build the eighth one of the world. It didn't. Yeah, so Wisconsin may switch from deals to policies. Now, time for our snack fact of the day.

This one sent in by the family that snacks together. You got John Cave Osborne, his wife, and five kids all snacking together in Knoxville. The beginning of the snack fact is that there are 52 cards in a deck of cards. You know that. You may know that you may have come across. that, but here's why. Do you notice 52 is also the number of weeks in a year? And you notice that the cards are black or red, which kind of represents night and day.

And if you add up all the numbers in that deck of cards, you get 365. 365 days in a year. Oh, and do you notice there are 12 court cards like Kings and Queens? Do you know there's 12 months in a year? Oh, but what about the 13 cards in a suite? You may have been thrown off by that? True, because you include the ACE. There's 13 lunar cycles in a year.

Whoa. We got one more, though. Please. is also the number of lowercase and uppercase letters in the alphabet. Let's just end the pot here. Snackers, if your head didn't explode yet, remember to ask your friends, H-Y-H-Y-S-D. Have you had your snacks daily? That's how we grow.

We'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, happy birthday to snacker Mike Nawowski over in Omaha. Congrats to Natish Gupta for starting a fellowship in New York City. And Johnny Fisher, good luck on the surgery. It's going to go great. You're going to feel great in Chicago. Congrats to Manuel Martinez for getting into Maryland's MBA program. And to Yusuf Leon, congrats on the new job as a data scientist down in Mexico City.

Got a CFO on our hands with Danielle Bernard, who just took Sentinel One public with an IPO. Looking good. Happy four-year wedding anniversary to David Sutton in Little Rock, Arkansas. And happy birthday to Dustin Ortega in Fort Worth, Texas. Happy birthday to Natalie in Uruguay. And Kathy Virgino over in Queens. And Paul Rooney in Tipperary, Ireland. And financial analyst, Irene Mez, over in Chicago.

And Krishna in Long Island, New York. And Kristen in Boston. And Catherine Fam in Ottawa, Canada. And to anyone else snacking today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick on Stock of Apple. The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the hosts who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC

and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc. Or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is not an offer or sale of a security. The podcast is also not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis of any investment decision. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC. I got a buddy Reggie who had a full facial hair face at the end of like 12. He's perfectly qualified for this mystery team.