The Best One Yet - 🥜 “PB & Profits” — Uncrustables’ $1B sandwich. The Mullet Stock Market. Klarna’s AI Ozempic.

Starting point is 00:00:00 Here we go, three, two. This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, December 2nd. 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.

Starting point is 00:00:13 You know, Jack, people are still talking about my chocolate moose pie. It's still a thing. Is that so? I heard, there's a rumor going around. That's just what I hear. Was that your contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner? It was a little more than a contribution. It was, I would say, a highlight.

Starting point is 00:00:27 Although, I'm assuming you organized like 12 games of charades before dinner was over. True. After dinner charades games, Fishbowl, specifically. Yeah. Best thing to do by a fireplace, it's like my dream night.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Jack's undefeated in fishbowl, according to Jack. Yeties, welcome back. Jack and I prepared the three fantastic stories for you. What did we got on the pod, Jack? For our first story. Uncrustibles, the crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich,

Starting point is 00:00:52 is now a billion-dollar brand. Because Uncrustibles became the unofficial snack of the NFL locker room. For our second story, with both stocks and crypto at all-time highs, we've got our first ever mullet market. The stock market looks like a mullet. Fundamentals in the front, party in the back. And our third and final story is Clarna.

Starting point is 00:01:14 Clarna just used the most intense form of artificial intelligence we have ever seen. Because Clarna turned one quarter of their staff into artificial intelligence. But before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Honestly, fantastic. mix to come back from a long weekend, Jack. Welcome back. You're probably still covered in some oil from that turkey or that stuffing or Nick's moose dessert thing. Or you're covered in that oil from that cheese dip watching the football games.

Starting point is 00:01:40 Well, maybe you shouldn't clean that oil off. Because the new beauty trend, Yetis, is the oil baths. Specifically, crude oil baths. That's right. Pause the pod. Soak your body in a whole bathtub of black petroleum oil. That's the trend, baby. This is actually happening in spas in the Middle East, even though it sounds like the dirtiest thing we can imagine. And yet these oil baths were designed to get you clean.

Starting point is 00:02:07 I mean, Jack, you got to sprinkle on some context for us over there. Last week, the World Climate Conference, COP 29, was held in Azerbaijan. Interesting host, because Azerbaijan is one of the most oil-dependent countries on the face of the earth. 60% of this Middle Eastern nation's income comes from the sale of oil. But get this, besties. Azerbaijan has so... much oil that they are bathing in it, literally. It's a true story. At spas, they're not putting you in baths of olive oil.

Starting point is 00:02:35 They're putting you in baths of dark, murky, black petroleum oil that none of us encounter, like, ever. Jack and I got curious. We jumped in T-boy style, saw the pictures. It looks like that scene from Dune, Jack, but like... I know what scene you're talking about. Yeah, it's a hot tub of petroleum. That's what you're bathing in, baby. It's like a spa run by Sonoka. It's like a Texaco jacuzzi. I'll order the 50-minute gasoline tree. treatment, please. Yetis, this is wild. This oil remedy goes back 800 years. Markle Polo even did it on his travels. And apparently, this rare crude oil bath is a dermatologist's dream. That's right, because

Starting point is 00:03:11 one specific hydrocarbon in the oil is already used to treat skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema. So ExxonMobil, they shouldn't be pumping gasoline. They should be selling skin cream. OPEC, it's the new Sarajevoix, but warning yeties, cleaning that oil off, it's going to take many a towel. Yeah, you're going to need a barrel of West Texas towels to get that thing clean, baby. You're going to need a fire hose for like 20 minutes before it's all off you. Yeah, you're going to need a barrel of West Texas towels to fully clean yourself off, Jack. Yeah, it is. If any of you are taking oil baths. Good luck. Just don't light a candle. That's all we've got to say. Jack, let's hit our three stories.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Fifteen 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 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.

Starting point is 00:04:15 First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Uncrustibles, the crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich innovation is about to become a billion-dollar brand. And it's all thanks to the Baltimore Ravens, eating 8,000 of them last season. 8,000 boxes. It's a true story.

Starting point is 00:04:43 But yet is, while you were enjoying Turkey, the best performing stock over Thanksgiving week, Jack, I think it was Smuckers. It's got to be Smuckers, right? J.M. Smucker, the $13 billion food company popped 10% on Tuesday after announcing earnings. They're now worth two lifts. Smuckers, they actually own your parents' pantry, don't they, man? Smuckers owns a whole bunch of brands. Fulgers coffee, hostess snacks, Meow Mix, and a bunch more. But the highlight profit puppy.

Starting point is 00:05:10 of the smuckers portfolio in your pantry is uncrustables. Uncrestables. The sealed, crustless, frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich thing, but you let thaw and eventually eat. Now, some call the uncrustables the American empanada. Others call it a calzone for the cool kids in the cafeteria. My dad calls it a savory twinkie. Sometimes he calls it a nutty dumpling. We go whichever one he prefers. Either way, it was invented by two fathers in North Dakota who designed it specifically for the Midwestern school cafeterias that they grew up around. But get this. In 1998, the wife of a smuckers executive saw that uncrustable sandwich at her kid's lunch table. Before you know it, the company

Starting point is 00:05:52 acquired uncrustables for a million dollars. Honey, buy this brand. Our kid can't stop eating them. Smuckers, they already own Jiff peanut butter and smuckers jelly. They might as well put them together into these round pockets of uncrustable goodness. Sandwich synergies, you can't beat them. Yeti's sales grew for Smuckers slowly until about 10 years ago. Ten years ago, Uncrustibles started some hockey stick growth. They started going Gretzky. Because 10 years ago, sales went from $100 million to nearly $1 billion this year. Not too shabby.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Demand is so high, smuckers built a giant factory in Alabama just for uncrustables. We call it the Jigga factory. P.B. and J is getting some serious ROI. So, Yeties, how is a 26-year-old? sandwich-ish business growing like a software startup right now. Well, Jack and I got curious. We jumped in T-Boy style, and the answer is NFL football. Travis Kelsey said on his podcast that he eats more uncrustibles than any other food.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Yeah, true story. Travis Kelsey cooks uncrustables for Taylor Swift. That's how she loves them. NFL players used to eat Campbell's chunky soup all the time. Now they're eating uncrustables every day. In fact, the Baltimore Ravens football team has uncrustable. constantly stocked in their locker rooms to fuel their players. How many did they eat every week, Jack? I don't know, but they had 7,500 boxes last year. That's a lot of boxes. We repeat, the Ravens are expense

Starting point is 00:07:22 and uncrustables at 7,500 boxes a year. It's a write-off baby. And unlike Campbell's Chunky Soup, which was a paid product placement and ad campaign, these are all organic sales to NFL players. And once fans learned that their favorite players are eating uncrustables, they added uncrustables. to their carts, as if it were an ad. So leave the orange slices and electrolytes at home. Uncrustibles is the new Gatorade. It's what the pros are eating. The NFL is why sales of Uncrustibles are 10xing right now.

Starting point is 00:07:53 America doesn't run on Duncan. Football runs on Uncrustables. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Uncrustables? You don't have to build the atomic bomb to become a billionaire. Yeties, our favorite part about this business? Isn't the peanut butter, the jelly, the football? ball or the jigafactory. It's a quote from the Uncrustibles founders. We were making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, not an atomic bomb. That's what they said. In fact, those two dads, they said they

Starting point is 00:08:20 invented the first Uncrustables while pounding beers in their garage. They chose the circular shape for Uncrustables because they were inspired by the moon and the sun and because they had been drinking a couple beers. Deep. Yeah, it is. In a world of cutting edge AI, $500 million fundraisers, big tech competition, it is refreshing to hear this story of entrepreneurship. Because the thresholds for innovation can feel higher than ever right now. And yet Uncrustibles is a reminder that there are still simple ideas out there just waiting for someone to do it. Uncrustables isn't even a patented technology. The trademark office said, no, you can't patent that. All they made was crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They're like, yeah, you can't protect that because our moms all make these things.

Starting point is 00:09:04 The founders of this brand simply took a risk, invested some cash, got to work, and slowly crafted what became a billion dollar idea. Uncrustable shows us you don't have to build the atomic bomb to create billions. For our second story. The stock market that we're in right now, it's unlike any we've ever seen. It actually looks like a mullet. It's a mullet market. Business in the front, party in the back, future completely uncertain. Now, yet he is, in order to prepare for this story, Jack and I spent the whole weekend looking

Starting point is 00:09:41 at the great Mullets in history. And we got a few right here on the Whiteboard, Jack. I'm looking at Patrick Swayze, Yarmere Yager. Princess Diana, I think Princess Diana falls in this category, too. Is that right? It was like a two-year period where she was, you know, experimenting with hair. Oh, that's what Buckingham Pallas was so upset about. Yeah, you know, as Barry Melrose told her, it's not a look, Diana. It's a lifestyle. Okay, hockey guy. Okay, but besties, if you have money in the stock market, right now that money, it looks fantastic. Get this, the S&P 500, an index of the 500 biggest stocks in America, it's up 50% in the past two years. In fact, each of the major three stock market indexes

Starting point is 00:10:20 are at all time highs. And for good reason, and what is that reason, Jack? The fundamentals look fantastic. The fundamentals, the most important driver of stock prices is corporate profits. And America's companies are more profitable than ever right now. Oh, and it's not just their profits, future profits, they look even rosier, Jack. Trump is expected to extend his corporate tax cut, which for every company would be like a 20% profit game with the signature of that pen. So yet he's added up, and those are some pretty solid fundamentals. The stock market, it's all business when you look at it from the front.

Starting point is 00:10:56 But best easy, here's what Jack and I are noticing. So the front of the stock market, it looks business approved. But the back, it is all party, baby. A crypto party. Oh, it is a crypto party because crypto prices are also at all-time record highs. Ethereum is up 40% this year. Bitcoin has doubled this year. In fact, Jack, Ben the Bitcoin, our buddy, he's flirting with $100,000 for the first time ever. Six digits. Dogecoin? It just got a government agency named after it. Oh, in fact, after three years, Robin Hood stock has rebounded up past its original IPO price. People are having fun swiping on crypto buys at 2 a.m. again.

Starting point is 00:11:36 The Clurb, we all family investing in crypto together. I believe that's the saying, Jack. Oh, how about this sign of the Times? On Tuesday, I got a notification from Robin Hood. Yeah. Saying that they had added some random meme coin called Dog with hat. Dog with hat. It probably blew up on day one.

Starting point is 00:11:55 Stick that in your kids' 529, Jack. Now, yet he's on the front, the markets, they look profesh. Record profits and record outlook are driving record stock prices. And on the back, markets look to part. Doge Dogger 420 is giving market advice on X again. And that's why this is truly a mullet market. That's how you got to think about this market word. It's a mullet.

Starting point is 00:12:17 So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the stock market? Here's the question. Is this a Kurt Russell mullet or a Joe Dirt mullet? Good question, Jack. Now, the mullet market actually defies conventional rules of finance. Because we know investors do not like uncertainty. Uncertainty represents risk. But here's the problem.

Starting point is 00:12:39 This coming trade war, it presents some pretty big uncertainty. Like, how will countries react when we tariff them, which we already said we're going to do? Also, there's a very real risk of inflation coming back, with tariffs being the reason prices go up. Oh, and then, Jack, if prices rise, will the Federal Reserve stop lowering interest rates? And then, if they don't lower interest rates, what will happen to mortgage rates? Will the housing market ever come back anytime soon? If inflation spikes, the Fed might have to increase rates again. So Basties, right now, the stock market, it looks like a good mullet, a good stock market mullet.

Starting point is 00:13:11 It's a Kurt Russell mullet. It's big, it's handsome, it's confident. You could put this guy in the red carpet and a tuxedo, and that mullet would still look good. It's like your oil masseuse. It's big, handsome and convent. But the economic future, it's got some big question marks, doesn't it, Jack? Yeties, it's those big economic uncertainties that could turn this market from a Kurt Russell mullet to a Joe Dirt mullet. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, this Black Friday, Clarna, the Buy Now Pay Later financing company,

Starting point is 00:13:47 was more popular than ever. But Clarnas real surprise is using AI in the most aggressive way we have ever seen. All right, Jack, let's whip out the rankings over here. Second biggest tech startup in Europe, who we got on the big white board. Sweden's Clarna, the Buy Now Pay Later company. Yeah, the Swedes.

Starting point is 00:14:05 They've got some good tech. going on. And this month, Klarna actually filed confidentially to go public to IPO. And like Yergan the exchange student, Klarna is coming to America. Yeah, Klarna chose the New York Stock Exchange. They won an IPO in Q1 at a $20 billion valuation. It's about three lifts. Now, the business model of Klarna is self-explanatory and honestly kind of unoriginal. Yeah, basically, they spread out payments, kind of like infomercials used to, right, Jack? Yeah, remember OxyClean? You could pay $100 now or five easy payments of 1999. Billy Mays didn't want to make you pay up front. Billy Mays was like, eh, get me back in two months, three months, and on the six month of the year. Why the payments

Starting point is 00:14:46 always easy, by the way. Well, either way, Clarna does the easy payments part. They spread out your payments instead of making you pay up front. Now, here's Clarnas business model Yetis. They make money by taking fees and charging interest when you make a late payment on a buy now, pay later. Just like credit card companies. And you've probably noticed Buy Now Pay Later with Clarna on checkout. pages, which can be tempting. They've strategically noted right where you could pay that in fact, you could pay later instead. And with pinched wallets, the Associated Press expects record numbers of buy now pay later this holiday season. In this economy, Gen Z is buying that cute top now, but they're paying for it later. They're turning Klarna into a verb. But there's actually something

Starting point is 00:15:27 quite novel to Klarna's business model that we haven't mentioned yet. Good point, Jack, and what is that? Artificial intelligence. In fact, a very, intense use of artificial intelligence. Yetis, Clorna, they actually just boasted a surprise profit because of how they used AI. They're using AI to cut their biggest costs aggressively. Get this. Clarna's customer service chatbot was actually developed by OpenAI, and they use that chatbot to replace 700 workers. And Klarna's not shy about that. They're actually boasting that they replaced 700 customer support workers with one chat bot. It's almost like they've turned this into a marketing campaign. Jack, didn't they release like four separate press releases about replacing 700 human workers with AI?

Starting point is 00:16:16 I think the marketing campaign is to potential investors because they're bragging that they're using AI to lower costs and boost profitability. Honestly, Bezzi, this is a brazen use of AI to eliminate workers that we never see and you never see. They're pretty unapologetic about 700 people being laid off by this one bot whose sole goal is to boost profits. Pro tip, Klarna, when you are cutting jobs for AI, maybe don't turn it into an advertising campaign. But Yetis, what Klarna is doing is the beginning of what could be the biggest trend in corporate America. And there's one perfect way to explain it. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are Klarna?

Starting point is 00:16:54 OZemPEC exists for corporations. It's called AI. Now, yet he's so far, the big winners of artificial intelligence has been a handful of tech companies, the ones hitting trillion dollar valuations. But next year, every company could benefit from AI if expensive workers get replaced by bots. Scott Galloway, he called this corporate Ozempic. Like, you take some AI, you inject your company with it, and very quickly you cut costs and then your profitability, oh, it looks fit. Using AI, Klarna's sales, marketing, customer support, and operations expenses fell by 15, That's some serious and pretty instant weight loss.

Starting point is 00:17:31 That AI, it was corporate OZEPA. And this trend, Bessie, this will be fantastic for profits and stocks out there, but it is concerning for people in areas like customer support. Like with previous technological breakthroughs, repetitive tasks could be the first ones affected, so they'll have to look to retrain. Either way, AI, it's like a weight loss drug for business. AI is corporate OZempic. Jack, could you whip up the takeaway?

Starting point is 00:18:00 for us to kick off the week. Uncrustibles have 10xed sales in the past decade, thanks to popularity with NFL players. Uncrustibles, they're about to be a billion dollar brand, but it didn't require splitting the atom. For our second story, we're experiencing a mullet market. Stock business in the front, crypto party in the back. Right now it's a Kurt Russell mullet. But the big question is, could this become a Joe Dirt mullet? And our third and final story is Clarnah. They're trying to impress Wall Street with aggressive AI chatbots replacing workers. Corporate Ozempic, it exists, and it's called artificial intelligence. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the Biden administration is in a race to help clean energy companies,

Starting point is 00:18:46 and their new focus is Rivian. The White House has money from the Inflation Reduction Act that President Trump may try to revoke. So the White House is basically giving $6.6 billion of the money from that act as alone to Rivian. And they're doing it in a rush. They want to help Rivian build that second factory in Georgia. And second, chemists created the world's thinness the spaghetti. Oh, we should point out, they are not going to eat this spaghetti. They're going to use the spaghetti for medical research. This spaghetti is 372 nanometers wide, which means it's invisible to the naked eye. Hey, waiter, are you sure the pasta is in this dish? I can't even see this thing, man. No, Nick, they'd use it from medicine because these little spaghetti starches, they could help heal wounds when used in bandages.

Starting point is 00:19:31 That's really angel hair pasta, like literally angel hair pasta yeties. It's spaghetti, but it's not for eating. It's going to fix your wound like an angel. Probably doesn't taste that great. And finally, Cyber Monday is today, but the big question, where did the term Cyber Monday come from? It was coined in 2005 by a lobbying group. Yeah, it was actually invented by shop.org, which is the online arm of the National Retail Federation, which wants you to shoppy shoppy, shoppy, until you dropy, And that lobbying has worked because Cyber Monday is now bigger than Black Friday. You know what, Jack? You know what they should rebranded to? I bet it's going to be mobile Monday. Like more orders placed from your phone than just like on a web browser.

Starting point is 00:20:09 Yeah, we can do that. Yeah. Let's see the data later this week. Maybe we do a story on that. Maybe we will. Maybe we will. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me to kick off your Monday. It's a trivia question, actually. Steve Jobs is known as one of the best innovators of all time. His product unveils, they are copied by business leaders all over the world. But who did Steve Jobs copy?

Starting point is 00:20:31 Who was Steve Jobs thinking of when he did his first big product unveil? Tomorrow, we drop a new episode of The Best Idea Yet on a company whom Steve Jobs saw as his role model. And a founder who Steve Jobs saw as his idol. We want your guest, though, in the comments right now. What company and what man inspired Steve Jobs the most? We'll reveal the answer tomorrow. In the meantime, drop those comments. Yeties, you look fantastic today. Jack, you're looking fantastic, but I still got one question

Starting point is 00:21:01 that I've just been itching at since the beginning of the pot. Yeah. What do they do with all the crusts? You know, I actually look this up. Is there a product that's just crust? No, the company uses the crusts for animal feed. You're kidding. So it becomes like dog food, which then fertilize the land, which leads to more peanuts. It's like a circle of life kind of thing. Yeah, it is. Uncrustible is the first circular product in America. Somebody call it on John. It's circle of life. Yeties, if you haven't yet, share today's show with someone who just can't stop eating peanut butter at your office or your life.

Starting point is 00:21:34 Tell them, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Have you had the best one yet? If you know, you know. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't win. And before we go, congratulations to Yetis, Connor Knapp and Ellen Knapp, who just got married at the Orlo House and Ballroom in Tampa, Florida. They're already in Iceland for their honeymoon.

Starting point is 00:21:55 And Jack, their corgi, can't wait to see him when they get back. Happy birthday to Kelly Sanders in Houston, Texas, who's got her own custom dance for the T-boy intro song. She's dancing right now, and Noah Polonski and Laurel, Maryland has got a new job as a land acquisition manager. It's a lot of power right there, Noah. Congratulations to Neil DeVey in New York City, who's getting married and is right now in a bachelor party in Talloon. He's the Mavericka LinkedIn, and he's a proud H-Y-H-T-B-O-Wire. And happy birthday to Tyler Stringham in Mesa, Arizona. Tyler have the best birthday yet.

Starting point is 00:22:29 And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood, and we both own some Bitcoin. And Nick owns some Ethereum, named Ethel. Although Jack, now I need a glass of milk because my lips are stuck together.

The Best One Yet - 🥜 “PB & Profits” — Uncrustables’ $1B sandwich. The Mullet Stock Market. Klarna’s AI Ozempic.

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