The Best One Yet - 🎂🇮🇳 “Plus-one (Billion)” — The company behind India’s epic wedding. Apple’s $2B Spotify penalty. Caitlin Clark’s basketball payday.

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

CEOs of Meta, Disney, and Microsoft attended the wedding of Asia’s richest family: The Ambani’s — Behind it all is Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company.Apple was just fined $2B by the European Union for anti-competitive drama with Spotify — The shocker? The App Store in question is the only part of Apple that’s growing.And Iowa’s basketball star Caitlin Clark has set the all-time scoring record for women and men — But we’re looking at her NIL deals and thinking: she’s already pro.Plus, it’s Jack’s birthday, so we’ve got a poll going in his honor about a surprise in Birkenstock’s earnings report:Open-toed shoes or close-toed shoes? Vote on 1 on Instagram @tboypod$AAPL $SPOT $BIRK $RELIANCESubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, Tea Boy, Tuesday, March 5th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But yeties, have you heard our podcast from yesterday? Because yesterday, Jack and I recorded an entire show from the back of a self-driving

robotaxie. That's right. We rebuilt our podcast studio in the backseat of a Waymo, and we went for a drive around San Francisco while we recorded the show. The first ever self-driving podcast. Unprecedented, Jack. It was legendary, so you got to go back and listen to yesterday's show if you missed it. Although today's show is the best one yet.

We should point that out. Fair point. Jack, first story for today's fantastic T-boy. What do we got, man? Over the weekend, America's top CEOs attended the biggest wedding ever over in India. But, Yadies, it wasn't about the bride. This was all about the company behind it. India's biggest company.

For our second story, Apple was just. fine $2 billion by the European Union for messing with Spotify. Jack and I are looking at the most surprisingly profitable profit puppy in tech. What is it, Jack? The App Store. And our third and final story

is Caitlin Clark. The Iowa Point Guard just set the all-time NCAA basketball scoring record for men or women. But she's also the highest paid athlete in the history of college. Besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

Wild mix of stories. Love that mix of stories today, Jack. This isn't just any day, Nick. This is my 36th birthday. Jack's birthday, not too shabby. It's actually your best birthday yet, Jack. There you go. And it being my birthday and all,

I wanted to make the intro near and dear to something me. We could have talked about family. You know, we could have talked about friendship. But Jack wanted to talk Birkenstocks. Because, besties, since I converted to Birkenstocks in 2016, it's the only thing I put on my feet. Actually, Jack doesn't own a pair of Birkenstock shoes. He owns an inventory of Birkenstock shoes.

It's not a loafer. It's a lifestyle. And last year, Birkenstock's IPO. We covered it. It was the oldest IPO ever. Yeah, founded by a German cobbler back in 1774. Johann von Berkenstalkin, right, Jocken? But perfect timing for my birthday because they just reported earnings and they made shoe history.

Get this, Yeties. For the first time ever, closed toad shoes, just outsold open toad shoes. Birkenstock's clogs outsold Birkenstock sandals. I mean, Jack, this is the biggest thing to happen to shoes since the high heel. The most shocking news in footwear since they invented the sock. Because the way Jack and I see it, the world is divided between those who wear open-toed shoes and those who are closed-toed people. Exactly. Open-toed people, close-toed people. You got to pick a side.

You're letting your toes breathe. Or you're bottling them up so nobody can see them. Well, Jack, you're more experienced than anyone because don't you basically own all of these shoes? like both open toad and closed toad? I have both open toad and closed toad, which is controversial because I have Hobbit feet, which are hairy and kind of gross. I haven't to have open toad Birkenstocks, but only because you bought me open toad burkentstocks. I ended up in the open toad camp.

It's your first and only pair, isn't it? Yeah, I wasn't born that way, kind of a thing. I became an open toad person. So for T-Boy Tuesday, Yetis, we want to know, closed toad or open-toed. Open-toed or closed-toed. Are you letting those lower digits breathe? Or are you keeping those bunions all bottled up in there? This T-Boy Tuesday, we're asking the most polarizing question in footwear.

Open-toad or closed-toad. We've got a poll on Instagram at T-BoyPod. Hit us out, place your vote. To be clear, we're not asking for feedpicks, are we, Jack? No, no, no, this is Super Tuesday. The other Super Tuesday, get out there and vote. Open-toad or Close Toad. You know what to do.

15 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 artist. 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. Our first story. Over the weekend, the biggest wedding, maybe in history, went down. Bill Gates was there. Ivanka Trump was there. Mark Zuckerberg was even at this wedding. Why were they all there?

Because the wedding was for the air to the richest man in Asia. And Jack and I are going to tell you all about the company behind it. But first, besties, we've heard that there's nothing more thrilling than an Indian wedding. Full disclosure, this is Nick, this Jack, and neither of us have gotten any invites to an Indian wedding. Besties, Yetis, if you send one our way and we can make it, we're going to try to make it. We can beat each other's plus one. It's actually a great deal. For Yeties, here is the story.

Over the weekend was a three-day Indian wedding event with 1,200 guests. Guess who attended? the former or current CEOs of Disney, Microsoft, and Meta. And Jack, who was the musical performance during the cocktail hour at this wedding? None other than Rihanna. She went from the Super Bowl halftime show to this wedding. And they were all there because the groom happens to be the son of the ninth richest man in the world, the top businessman in all of India.

There were so many private jets that landed in this one locale in India that the government had to set up a new passport stamping facility, okay? This was such a big deal of a wedding that the dress calls. wasn't a theme. Like, what was your theme of your wedding, Jack? Boho Sheik was the dress code at my wedding. They didn't have a theme like Boho Sheik. They had a nine-page booklet telling you had a dress. Mark Zuckerberg showed up in what I can only describe as artwork. He actually looked amazing. But Jack, can you sprinkle on some context for us, please, over there?

The three-day wedding party wasn't even the wedding. It was the pre-wedding weekend. Yeah, it's just a pre-wedding. The actual wedding's in July. So I don't even know what this was. Again, we want to go to an Indian wedding. Yeties, the bride was a star, but the star was the groom. Because the groom was Anant Umbani, the son of Mukesh Umbani. The Umbani's, Asia's richest family, the ninth wealthiest person worldwide, $117 billion net worth check. That is more than 25 lifts. I can't imagine how expensive this wedding was. Well, apparently his sister's wedding was $100 million. And that was five years ago. Before inflation. Now, Yetis, these CEOs, they weren't attending just to send their wedding blest.

They all actually have billions of dollars at stake in this wedding. Because the company behind the family behind the wedding happens to be Reliance Industries. The Groom's family owns half of the largest company in India, Reliance Industries. It's actually a publicly traded company. You can buy the stock of this company. It's a $250 billion firm. And guess what? 7% of everything that India exports is made by Reliance Industries.

Basically like 7% of India's economy is this company. Their export economy. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to this company, and we discovered that Reliance is like the perfect example of a conglomerate. Because it was founded in 1958 in the spice trade, and then they started selling yarn for India's budding rugs industry. But then they realized to run textile factories, you need oil. So they got into the oil business.

And if they make rug dyes, they need chemicals. So they acquired some chemical companies. Well, a few decades in a hundred, Hundreds of acquisitions later today, Reliance Industries has 234 different subsidiary companies. This company makes airplane parts. They produce movies. They own malls. They run hotels and they have cybersecurity firms.

This company Reliance has a mobile business that Facebook invested $6 billion with a B right into a few years ago. And just last week, they formed a $9 billion joint venture with Disney to stream India's cricket games on Reliance's streaming apps. This wedding, it was really a bleager trip for all these CEOs, wasn't it, Jack? Beautiful wedding, but some pretty big business deals to check it on. I didn't bring my husband, I brought my lawyer. Jack, I think there are contracts under the can of pays.

So what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at Reliant Industries? This wedding wasn't about the couple. It was about India. Yeties. Last year, Jack and I told you how India passed China to become the largest population in the world. And we told you how Apple is moving manufacturing to India to diversify from China. Well, perfect timing, because last week, we got really interesting new data. It showed that India is the fastest growing big economy on the planet.

India grew at a piping hot 8% last year, and its stock market is also at an all-time high. Yeah, he's the biggest market opportunity in the world right now isn't China anymore. It's India. And this opulent, expensive, extravagant, three-day pre-wedding weekend is symbolic of that old switcheroo. Jack, remember the 2008 Beijing Olympics like China's coming out party? That was wild. Well, this wedding was India's coming out party. For our second story, Apple just suffered its biggest fine ever.

$2 billion by the European Union for messing with Spotify. And this whole case reveals a dirty secret Apple doesn't want you to know. The App Store is so profitable for Apple. It's so profitable. Apple's embarrassed by how profitable it is. Before we get to the rest of this story, Jack and I, we want to run a little experiment with you. If you have an iPhone, open up the App Store app and search for the word music. What's the app that should show up at the top?

You'd think Spotify. Spotify is the number one streamer in the world. So, yes, Spotify is the music app. But check, where does Spotify show up for you in the app store? For me, they're not first, second, third, or fourth. They're fifth. Spotify is the number one most downloaded music app on earth, and yet it's number five in the app store. Number one, unsurprisingly, is Apple music. And that is one key reason why the EU just

gave Apple its biggest fine ever $2 billion. The EU just ruled that Apple's app store unfairly punishes Apple's competitors like Spotify in this case. And the EU has basically become like a global police force. They're like keeping America's big tech in check over there. And the EU also complained about the sneaky app tax that everyone complains about except Apple. The app tax, we should describe that as well, shouldn't we, Jack? If you buy something in the app store, Apple takes up to a 30% cut of all those payments. And those payments add up. So five years ago, Spotify sued Apple on its home turf of the European Union.

And the EU just sided with Spotify, calling Apple's app store practices illegal. Now, yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Apple prepared a response to this ruling, and what was that response exactly, Jack? A 1600-word public statement that was very defensive. It was a 1600-word wine. In this letter, Apple complained that Spotify doesn't suffer from Apple's App Store at all. In fact, Spotify benefits from the App Store. Apple points out that Spotify doesn't actually pay Apple anything technically.

Now, of course, Spotify customers pay Apple, but Apple didn't talk about that. In fact, Apple framed their app store as a public service as essentially the unicef of apps. It basically said Spotify should be thankful for the app store. Like, oh, you're welcome, Spotify. You're welcome. They framed the app store as like a free public service that is just a wonder to society. Apple was like so ruffled by this whole situation. We noticed they mentioned the word Spotify 38 times in this letter. For big old Apple to complain about Spotify, a company 160th of their size,

By mentioning it 38 times, it really came off as whiny and defensive. Jack, it's kind of like two siblings fighting over the remote and the bigger siblings like, um, she bit me, but she's a baby. That's kind of what it's like. I'm picturing like your brother Tucker taking a bite of your dessert, man, and then him complaining about you. But tuck was never this much bigger than me. Clearly there's some unresolved issues there, Jack.

There's some unresolved issues. But yet he's Apple seems very annoyed that anyone is questioning them, especially Spotify. But the way Jack and I see it, the key isn't Spotify, is it Jack? The key of this story that Apple's so upset about is the App Store. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? There's only one thing actually growing at Apple. It's the App Store. Yet these all of Apple's operating segments actually shrank last year except for one.

The only Apple segment that grew in 2023 was services. Services, not iPhones, not MacBooks, not. iPads, not even wearables, the only division growing at Apple right now is services. And here's the secret that Apple doesn't like to tell anybody. Services is mostly the app store. Sh, Jack, you're supposed to whisper that. Besties, Apple has never shared the revenue or the profits of the app store. Instead, they bury the results within the services category.

But interestingly, an expert witness testified a few years back that the app store of Apple has a 78% profit margin. That is huge. Isn't this shocking? The App Store is the only division growing at Apple, and it's by far the most profitable division. So yet his Apple wrote a 1600 word letter attacking Spotify, but it was really defending its App Store. The App Store, the thing they pretend is a public service, but is a wildly profitable public service. Because Apple's one billion devices are really app toll booze collecting app taxes.

There's only one thing growing at Apple, and it's the App Store. For our third and final story, it's Iowa's Caitlin Clark. She's now the all-time scoring leader in NCAA basketball history. But Caitlin Clark already had a different scoring record with her college earnings. Jack, let's pull out the scoreboard. Sunday night, number six, Iowa's taking on number two, Ohio State, Big Ten, Women's Basketball matchup, who we got, man. Huge game, I don't know who won.

The only thing anyone cared about was Caitlin Clark. Right, because all eyes were on Caitlin shooting from buff, like half court, basically. She made history on Sunday night by scoring 35 points to become the all-time points leader in NCAA history. Jack, have you seen her logo shots? You know about her logo shots? No, I don't. It's when she shoots, not from the three-point line, but from like the logo by half court. That's how far back she is. She shoots from the parking lot.

She's like a field goal kicker, but with basketball. She didn't just break the women's record. She broke the men's record set by Pistol Pete Marevich back in 1970 for LSU. Now we should point out it isn't exactly apples to apples, these two records. Pete Marevich did it in 45 fewer games when there was no three point line and there was no shot clock to speed up the play. But we should also point out that Pete happened to have his dad as the head coach of his college team and Caitlin Clark did not. Yeah, so Pistol Pete was getting the ball every play because the coach was telling them too. It's his son.

In the meantime, Caitlin Clark. Clark now has the all-time most points in college basketball men or women. A record that most thought would never be broken. Funny side note here. We happen to be covering this story about Caitlin Clark on Jack's birthday. But Caitlin Clark was born on Nick's birthday. Her birthday is January 22nd, 2002, and she wears the number 22. Did you notice that, Jack? You were the number 22, too. Lacrosse. I was number 22. And your birthday's also 122. Born on 122 at 122 p. Nick, guess how old she is? She's 22. You're kidding.

The 22s, they're just saying about us. Now, the only thing left for Caitlin to win is the national championship. Last year, she lost in the finals this year, second times the charm. Now, Jack, thanks for bringing us back to the story and to the number two again. But Caitlin Clark also just made a big decision. She just announced she's foregoing her final year of college eligibility. She's going pro, the WNBA draft. But yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story.

Caitlin Clark isn't in the WNBA yet, but by all financial accounts, she's already a pro. She's very much a professional basketball player. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy, Caitlin Clark, with the NCAA scoring record? She's turning pro finally, but she's already been pro thanks to NIL. Caitlin Clark has the top college basketball scoring record, but she already has a paycheck record. Because she's making an estimated $1 million a year in endorsement deals as a 22-year-old college senior. And that's thanks to the 2021 Supreme Court ruling known as NIL, name image likeness. College athletes today can sign promotional deals with their name, image, and likeness without jeopardizing the ability to play college sports.

The University of Iowa does not pay Caitlin a dime, but companies are legally allowed to pay her many dimes. And if you scroll her Instagram, you see those dimes. You see, promoted posts with Jake from State Farm. Buick posts, Bo's headphones. She's doing promos with all of them. She's got handshake Instagram posts with big brands like Nike, Gatorade, and H&R Block. Caitlin Clark even has her very own cereal, her own version of Wheaties. It's called Caitlin's Crunch Time, which is a perfect name for a basketball-themed cereal.

Now, besties, Caitlin got paid by all those brands who benefited from her name, her image, and her likeness, her N-I-L. Caitlin Clark is turning pro, but by all financial accounts, she already was pro. Jack and the birthday boy whip up the takeaways for us over there. Disney's Bob Higer, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft's Bill Gates all attended the same Indian wedding over the weekend. But this wasn't about the couple, or the family or the family's business. This wedding was about India. For our second story, Apple just got fined $2 billion by the European Union for anti-competitive app store practices. Apple's mad because the app store is the only division at Apple.

That's actually growing. And our third and final story is Caitlin Clark. She's going to graduate from the University of Iowa as the top scorer in college basketball history. Well, she's turning pro, but she already was pro thanks to her name, image, and million dollar likeness. But yet is this pod's not over yet? Here's what else you need to know today. First, this week is all about mall earnings, as in brands that are in your local mall, are all reporting Wall Street earnings.

The Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch and Victoria's Secret, they're all announcing earnings this week, and we may cover them on the show. And second, it is Super Tuesday, the big day of primary voting for presidential nominees of each party and a whole bunch of other stuff you might be voting on. In California, in Texas, North Carolina, in Vermont, and 11 other states head to the polls today.

And finally, Bitcoin just passed $67,000 yesterday. It is close to hitting its all-time high of 69,000 bucks. But like we told you last week, this feels like a FOMO rally. Yeah, what happens with FOMO Rally, Jack? FOMO can become no-mo. So be careful out there with your money. Now, time for the best fact yet.

This one sent in by Jack Kravici Kramer, born and raised in Brattleboro, Vermont, because this is this man's birthday. Now, I want to talk about my favorite park, which is also your favorite park, Nick. I love it. It was my old backyard, Jack. Central Park is America's oldest public park. When the city commissioned this park in the 1850s, there was no American park they could refer to.

So they thought about the parks in Paris and London instead. It was designed by humans, right? It's not just a natural park. That's exactly right. It's 100% not natural. Although there's trees and hills and ponds, all of those were designed by the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. It was planned like a building.

Central Park was built. And although the surrounding, Manhattan Island is a grid of perfectly perpendicular streets, there's not a single straight line in all of Central Park. Yeties, if you are in Central Park right now and you can find a straight line, we dare you to find a straight line. Yeah, you're not going to find it. Send us the pick.

It's fake. We don't believe it. There's one straight line. Where is it, Jack? The softball diamonds. The foul lines on the softball fields. Frederick Law Olmstedt wouldn't be happy about a jacket. Yeties, you look fantastic for Jeff.

Jack's birthday. And remember, if you haven't yet, we got a poll growing on Instagram at T-BoyPod. What do we got, Jack? Are you living the open-toed life or the closed-told life? How do you like your burks? When you're wearing Birkenstock shoes, you're showing those pinkies, where you're keeping them enclosed? Pro tip. Clip your nails before going open-tow. If you know, you know. But hopefully you don't know. And before we go, a happy combo birthday, not just to my co-host, Jack Kramer, but also to his one. wife, Alex. Alex, congratulations. Brooks's birthdays in two days. This is a big month for this family.

This is the month of your birthdays, man. And we got Wilder coming up in just a few weeks. A lot going on. A lot of cakes. A lot of balloons. But that's so awesome that they're all at the same time. I love that, yeah. That's an exciting time.

And happy birthday to Coco Flageolet, who's coding for Airbnb up in the Presidio over in San Francisco. And Jacenia Vasquez is celebrating a 31st birthday with a whole lot of Rioja over in space. Happy birthday to Xavier Chang and his puppy Atlas down in Miami. And Frank DeBora is celebrating a birthday down in Sarasota, Florida. Happy birthday to Edvita Carthacan in Kirkland, Washington. And Alex Alma celebrating a birthday over in Boston, just outside Boston.

And happy birthday to Widow Phillips. A good boy, the puppy of Ellen Grayson, who's turning one in West Virginia. And Jenny just completed 200 hours of yoga training over in Chicago. She is not just doing logistics. she's bending over backwards and I'm a stay. The light in us honors the light in you. And congratulations to Annie Vita Lee, who's celebrating a new role at Oracle NetSuite in Austin, Texas.

And a big shout out to Josh Goralski, who's celebrating 13 years after donating his kidney to his dad. That is a double win to celebrate. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Victoria's Secret. Nick own stock of Nike, and we both own stock of Airbnb, Apple, and Spotify. And we both own one Bitcoin named Ben.

Jack, you know what's going to have it, too, because you're traveling tomorrow. Every time you check, when with TSA, they'll be like, happy birthday. Happy birthday. They're going to give you, like, a very subtle, like, they acknowledge it, but, like, they're not going to really celebrate it. But, like, inside, they're kind of excited. They're not going to pull, like, an Olive Garden waiter, Bono Serra song. Yeah, there you go. Bust you now.

Happy birthday, by the way. All right, shoes off. They're like, why are you flying spirit? I'm like, good question. Yeah, yeah. They're like, don't worry. Things will turn out. Things will get better.

Don't worry. Next year is going to be a great year for me. I can tell you've got plenty of life ahead of you. It'll be okay.