The Best One Yet - 🌝 “Post-Swift Era” — Ticketmaster’s Google moment. Calvin Klein’s JFK Jr miss. Trump’s Iran TACO? +Beyond Meat’s rename

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Stagflation had entered the chat… But the President reversed everything with a tweet.Calvin Klein’s is viral thanks to FX’s “Love Story” about JFK Jr and CBK… but Calvin wasn’t ready.Live Nation doesn’t have to sell Ticketmaster… so is $LN the next $GOOG?Plus, Beyond Meat’s got a new name… but it’s the longest name in Wall Street history.$BYND $PVH $LYV $SPYBuy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAYArlington, VA (3/11): https://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/shows/341317 New York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2Los Angeles, CA (6/3): SOLD OUTGet your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll NEWSLETTER: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 Tuesday, Teen Boy, Tuesday, March 10th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a team boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, baby. Arriving today in lovely D.C.,

I got a red eye right after this recording, Jack. I know. But we have one question for you before tomorrow's live show in Arlington, Virginia. And here it is. Do you have the best fact yet about our nation's capital? If you do and you're coming to our live show tomorrow, fill out the form in this episode description. You want to tell them why, Jack? This is a good surprise.

We want to bring you up on stage to deliver it yourself. Mike check, my check, you are going to give the best fact yet to the live show. Do we have any more tickets available, Nick? We got like a few more tickets available, so there's like last chances, baby. Okay, it's a total last chance situation. In the meantime, though, Jack and I whipped up three fantastic pop-biz stories for today's pod. Jack, what do we got on the show? For our first story, Live Nation and Ticketmaster just settled the most controversial case in music since Beethoven's 9th.

Which means Live Nation could become the next Google. For our second story, JFK Jr. So hot right now. So hot right now. So is Calvin Klein, the brand he and his wife loved. Caroline Beset Kennedy is given Calvin Klein a gift that their marketing team could only dream for. And our third and final story, it's the crude awakening, part two. Oil prices popped up to 117 a barrel yesterday before plummeting to 85.

Meanwhile, one freaky word from the 1970s. 70s just entered the economic chat, and what is it, Jack? Staggflation. I thought it was Bell Bonner. I'll go with Stagflation. But yet, he's, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, love the mix of stories for the T-Boy Tuesday, Jack. Shakespeare once asked, what's in a name?

Well, one stock just asked, what's in my name? Because Beyond Meat, the very struggling plant-based meat business just changed its name officially. And Jack and I would like to speak to a manager, please. Because Beyond Meat is now Beyond. The Plant Protein Company. I'm sorry, Jack, that's not a name. That's a sentence. We literally had to put a comma in there for it to make sense.

Besties, the only company we could find with a longer name was, what was it, Jack? Michael Scott Paper Company. Beyond Meat. They just went from two words to five. It's not a sentence. It's actually a paragraph. Beyond meat, you went too beyond. Might want to stay within next time.

Now in the branding, we should point out that Beyond Meat is just going to call themselves Beyond. So marketing-wise, they're pulling a Justin Timberlake and dropping the the the. But on Wall Street, they dropped the meat and then added the plant-based protein company to the name. No, just plant protein company. So basically they're trying to capitalize on the protein maxing trend. Which their product was already doing, but now they're making it super duper clear. Yeah, full disclosure, still a shareholder in here or so.

Whatever, guys, if it works, roll with it. But if you could rename Beyond Meat. If you were in charge, what would you call it? Oh, that's our question for T-Boy Tuesday. What would you name Beyond Meat if you named it from scratch? Again, extra bonus points if you used the word within. Drop it in the comments. Jack and I.

three stories. 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. 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, live nation and ticket master. They just survived the wrath of the Swifties and settled their antitrust lawsuit. And the last time the government led a monopoly off the hook was Google.

And Google stock has surged 60% since. Master, the new Google. But besties, we all remember the $26,000 Taylor Swift Eristore ticket. Jack and I covered it back in 2024. Well, in May of that year, a bipartisan lawsuit was filed against the owner of Ticketmaster, Live Nation. The only year of politicians agree on, 40 states, United States. to sue Live Nation saying it's Ticket Service, Ticketmaster is, and I quote,

Jack, what is the exact quote here? The absolute worst, Nick. Exactly. And then the Attorney General of the United States said at a press conference, it is time to break it up. The only thing bringing together Swifty's Deadheads and Backstreet Boys fans was Ticketmaster fee trauma.

Yes, it was. So break it up like the Beatles they wanted to. Pretty clear in hindsight. Back in 2010, the government should not have let Live Nation acquire ticket master. But yesterday, that 21-month-long lawsuit came to an end. And the verdict, Jack? Guilty? No.

Nope. There was no verdict because the case was settled outside of court. Kind of like in a really long fish song, there was no climax. How dare you? You know what I'm saying? It's like a two-hour song, Jack. There's got to be a climax to the song. Well, the anti-climax was actually great news for Live Nation shareholders, although there were some penalties we should sprinkle some context on to.

Here's the fine print. In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, the government demanded some concessions from Live Nation, or as they called them, remedies. Yeah, this is a classic case of, to quote the 1997 song by the notorious B-I-G, mo monies, mo problems. Now, we have to say this next part, or Live Nation will sue us. Live Nation admitted no wrongdoing in this case. Yes, they did, and we don't want to be sued against.

But still, Ticketmaster's Monopoly in Outdoor Amphitheaters is particularly egregious. Because Ticketmaster owns 78% of the Roman-style outdoor theaters across America. Like the Hollywood Bowl, the Gorge Amphitheater, Xfinity Center just outside Boston, they're all live nations. Well, as part of this new lawsuit settlement, Ticketmaster must open up to competition 13 of them. The lawsuit also requires a cap on service fees on Ticketmaster to 15% of the ticket price. So that $100 ticket you bought for next weekend, it's going to have a maximum fee of $15. Ticketmaster also must act like a platform now and allow third-party ticketing apps to appear in Ticketmaster ticket searches. You're searching for the Wu-Tang tickets for their concert tour this summer on Ticketmaster.

You're also going to see options from Seat Geek and Eventbrite. And finally, Ticketmaster must pay $280 million in damages to the Swifties, but only from the states participating in this settlement. To quote, Rihanna better have my money. But it is unclear if consumers are actually going to get any of that money. No, we're probably going to get an email from like, Ticketmaster settlement email, like, official. And you have to like register to maybe get like $11.

bucks, but also cross your fingers and hope this isn't a scam. Then you have to cross over a bridge, talk to an old man, he'll ask you a riddle, and maybe, just maybe, you can get your money back. But we should point out, not all the state settled. The state of New York is continuing to sue Live Nation, so it's not case closed yet. But still, Wall Street is calling the settlement benign for Live Nation. The stock jumped 6% on Monday, close to an all-time high. Although, Bessies, Jack and I would not call this Ticketmaster situation benign. We would call it opportunity. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Ticketmaster? After a very similar outcome happened to Google, the stock rose by 60%. Basically, is Ticketmaster the new Google? Because yet he's

besides Live Nation, the other big antitrust case in the past year, it was Google. But Nick, with Google, the judge actually declared them an illegal monopoly, but then declined to make any required changes, like make them sell Chrome or YouTube. And guess, what happened? On September 3rd of last year, when the judge let Google off the hook, Google stock surged 9%. Similar to the 6% surge that Live Nation had yesterday. Okay, but then Jack, Google's rally kept on going. Investors realized that the monopoly discount they'd been given to Google, the risk of it getting broken up, was now gone. Google's stock rose 60% over the next five months, and you know what? A similar monopoly discount could go away now for Live Nation. Live Nation is

punished enough to satisfy the government, but it's still intact enough to keep it. dominating their industry. That is the key balance. And with demand for live events at an all-time high, Live Nation stock could have a run like Google's did. Analysts are calling Live Nation's government settlement benign. We call it an opportunity. For our second story, love story, the show on FX about JFK Jr. is driving a surge in interest for Calvin Klein. But Calvin Stock is not benefiting. Nope. Because the company was totally unprepared for this. Now, yeah, he's a star, little bit of context. The number one social icebreaker when you get to a party as a millennial. What is it, Jack? What are you streaming? Any good shows lately? Well, the top trending show everyone's

talking about over the weekends already has 25 million hours streamed. Side note, check justwatch.com to see if the show you want to watch is available on one of the streamers you already pay for. But back to the main note, love story is the FX series. It's about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Beset, the tragedy of two super hot, super interesting people. Now, in case your mom doesn't love the Kennedys like mine does. I should inform me that these two died in a plane accident in 1999 because the Kennedy family has a history of tragedy. But the core plot, the story, it is universal. The son of a president meets a fashion publicist. There's a lot of eating. There's a lot of biking. And there was one very public argument over in Central Park. Sorry, did you say the story of

the son of the president meeting a fashion publicist is universal? It's an Upper East Side Tale, his oldest time, Jack. But while JFK Jr. and his hair were famous, CBK is the one causing a fashion revolution right now. That's right. Carolyn Bessett Kennedy was America's Princess Diana during the same time as Princess Die. And right now, this show and her style are creating a CBK core trend. In episode one, she wore a $38 tortoise shell headband. Those headbands are now sold out across the city. Jack, the casual Indian restaurant where these two went on their first date, Pana Two Garden, the one with the lights, they've seen a 40% surge in reservations over the last week. Here's the biggest evidence, though.

Google searches for Calvin Klein are up 850% since the show premiered. Because JFK Jr's wife, CBK, worked there, and is shown working there basically the entire show. Calvin Klein hasn't been this hot a topic at brunch since Marky Mark wore those white boxer breeds. If you don't know what you're talking about, you're going to find out in about a minute. Nick, this show is taking the whole world back to Calvin Klein's 1990s golden era. In fact, besties, is Jack and I do have in T-boy style, we would argue, that Calvin Klein is the most influential fashion brand of the 20th century. Well, at least of the 1990s.

Because Calvin Klein didn't just change clothes. Calvin Klein changed entire other industries, including advertising. Fun fact, during World War II, Calvin Klein was born in the same Bronx neighborhood as Ralph Lauren was. Now that is a dinner party fact. But his key style insight many years later when he grew up was that after the excess of the 1980s, we should pioneer minimalism.

Calvin Klein invented the luxury t-shirt. It was him. He elevated basics like t-shirts, bras, and underwear to make them the focus. And then follow us in this one. Because those basics exposed a lot of skin, he became the first designer to show tattoos in his ads. Which previously was taboo, I guess? So like in 1980, you had Brooke Shields doing a TV commercial where she said, Nothing comes between me and my Calvin's.

Because she was wearing just jeans. And then in 1992, Calvin Klein paid Mark Wahlberg a hundred grand just to wear Calvin's on a giant billboard. His ads got so racy and so young and so barely clothed, it actually caused a federal investigation of Calvin Klein's advertising. Literally. But then in 2003, Calvin Klein sold to PVH for 700 million bucks. That's the fashion stock that also owns Tommy Hilfiger. Now, Besties, Calvin Klein, they've been low-key for a while now,

but as Jack and I have always told you, nostalgia runs in 20-year cycles. So 23 years after that acquisition, Calvin is in vogue again, thanks to his supporting role in this show, love story. Actually, Jack, after a couple episodes, I can tell you, it's more of a leading role because half of the show takes place in Calvin Klein conference rooms. Carolyn is like moodboarding for the next product of Calvin Klein in a Calvin Klein skirt. Jack, the hookup scenes? Well, Carolyn's wearing Calvin Klein underwear as they both take off their clothes.

Marketing is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for. Exactly. And Calvin Klein's prayers have been answered by the show. Okay, but one little problem we should point out, Jack, Calvin Klein forgot the robes. Yeah. Also, literally. So, Jack, what's the tip?

Takeaway for our buddies coming between us and Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein is a reminder to put virality on your calendar. Yeties, this is fascinating. Bloomberg interviewed New Yorkers who were shopping at the Calvin Klein store in New York, but they were leaving the store empty-handed. Sad and empty-handed. They went in to find the 90s styles, like from the show, but they left with nothing because Calvin didn't have them in stock.

But on the other hand, resale websites were ready. The Real Real was prepared with 90s minimalist time capsules on their site. And the Real Real has seen sales of vintage 1990s Calvin Klein stuff triple since the show premiered. Basties, what we're saying is that Calvin Klein should have seen this coming. The Love Story Show was announced back in 2021. They had five years to prepare a whole wardrobe and a whole fashion line of the stuff that Carolyn Bessett Kennedy was wearing in the show. But instead, they let them secondary market steal their lunch. PVAH stock, which owns Calvin Klein, it's actually down since the show came out that made them viral again. Yet he's Calvin Klein. Yeah, it's Calvin

Fine as a reminder to put virality on your calendar. In fact, if you work for a consumer brand, you should ask AI right now. Is there a movie or show coming out that might feature my brand? If so, email that to your boss and put it on the calendar. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, oil prices skyrocket or record amount for the second straight day. The crude awakening continued. Stagflation entered the economic chat.

But all of that changed after the president tweeted. We'll explain. He may have tweeted a taco. But besties, oil markets, they are on fire right now and not in a good way. Yesterday, we covered that oil had risen by 35% in five days. Wow. The biggest five-day increase for oil since dinosaurs. Sunday night, traders in Asia got back to their desks and said, you know what?

Hold my regular unleaded. Because weekend escalation of the war in Iran shot oil prices up by another 12. 20%. It was a petrol pop to start the week. The panic in oil markets actually caused an emergency announcement by the G7 countries to release their oil reserves to bring the price of oil down a bit. Besties, the thinking here, a longer, more expensive, more drawn out Middle East War is getting priced into Wall Street. But then, President Trump responded to the panic on Monday. He calmed the markets, which actually ended up for the day. The exact quote from the tweet, the war is very complete, comma, pretty much, which, Jack, could he sprinkle on some calendar context for us, please?

He said the war on Iran is way ahead of his four to five week timeline that he gave us just a couple weeks ago. So, besties, on this news, oil went from a peak $117 a barrel all the way down to just $85 a barrel. A 30% swing downward after a 20% swing upward, all in 24 hours. We've never seen anything like this before. I'm sorry, ExxonMobil. You've been hanging out with Ben the Bitcoin lately? What's going on over there? All right, the crude awakening in the oil market, that's an ongoing story. We'll see what we cover about it tomorrow. Let's save that in our back pocket for now. But the new story is the word stagflation. Jack, why don't he sprinkle on even more context for us? Friday's job report showed a clear AI-powered job shrinkage in our economy. Jack, high oil prices, that's only going to accelerate all that sad, frustrating job shrinkage.

High oil prices drive up the price of everything because everything needs oil to be made. Yeah, basically oil seasoned to everything. So the job market. market is getting worse and prices are popping. Whoa, you know what that means. That is an economist's worst nightmare called stagflation. Oh, that is one freaky dream. Stagflation. It's when unemployment and inflation are both rising at the same time. Or as we like to put it, stagflation. It's like when your house is flooded and on fire at the same time. Not a good thing. And the last time Jack and I covered stagflation was like almost a year ago. Here's what we said exactly. Let's roll the tapes. As students of economics, Jack and I know that stagflation is caused by something external, something like politics.

In the 1970s, the political external event was the Middle East oil crisis. Okay, but today, the political external event causing stagflation would be the global trade war. Now, present day, besties, the tariffs we were referring to back then, they were mostly canceled. So there was no stagflation a year ago. But the Middle East oil crisis that we referenced from the 1970s, Yeah, Jack? Grab your bell bottoms and sleek wood macrin vinals. Because that sounds a lot like what's happening right now.

Yes, it does, because yesterday we saw stagflation in the headlines for the first time since we covered it last year. Because an oil crisis in the Middle East is causing the price of oil to jack up really high. But besties, funny thing about that, just like last year, everything we just said could all be canceled. Based on a tweet. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our butter? He's wondering what comes next. Did President Trump just taco? The Warren Iran?

Ah, the taco, T-A-C-O. Yeti's that's the nickname on Wall Street for when President Trump reverses a policy because stocks are falling. Trump always chickens out. The non-political, non-partisan way to make money on Wall Street in the past 18 months is to sell Trump's threat and buy Trump's reversal. And the absolutely enormous drop in oil prices after Trump's tweet that the war was, quote, very complete pretty much, it is similar to the enormous move from when Trump canceled last year's biggest tariffs. We said it last week. If oil prices kept rising, that could be what ends the war. What we meant was President Trump's pain point in this war. His scoreboard is measured by the price of oil and the S&P 500. We'll fall the headlines as they come tomorrow, but the markets might have forced the war to end. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? First, Live Nation has settled with most states and the federal government, and it can keep ticket master.

So the big question, is Live Nation the new Google? For our second story, JFK Jr. and his wife, CBK, are fueling demand for classic 1990s Calvin Klein. But Calvin wasn't ready for it. The lesson, if you're a brand, you got to put potentially viral moments on that calendar. And our third and final story, oil prices freaked out on more evidence that the warner-on could be long and drawn out. But then all that in the middle of our recording got reversed on what might be a classic Trump taco trade. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

Pixar just delivered their best opening weekend for an original movie in a decade, and the movie is Hopper. It's not a prequel. It's not a sequel. It's an original film that won the box office this weekend. Second Anthropic published a report last week showing how vulnerable every industry is to AI. You can check it yourself. Spoiler, if your job requires a computer, you're at risk. And finally, the record cold winter you've all survived through has already claimed a surprise victim for this summer, the lobster rule. That's right. Prices for your lobster. This summer are expected to be jacked up by the cold. Yeah, to sprinkle on some context.

Apparently, lobsters hate the cold, too, so they swim 20 miles offshore to burying the sand if it gets too cold out there. Which sounds like the plot of the next original Pixar movie. So fewer lobster supplies this summer means lobsters already expected to hit 38 bucks a wholesale pound. Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because Jack and I like to hold ourselves accountable

in a way that AI can't. We've got some corrections. to make from a couple errors we made. Kathy said on Spotify, Nestle is not based in the Netherlands. It's based in Switzerland. Yeah, yesterday we did a whole story on Blue Bottle and Nestle, accidentally, we said that it's based in Holland.

We were thinking of Unilever, which is based in Holland. Nestle, Nestle, is based in Switzerland. And then Richard G. from New Jersey, is a stickler for grammar. I'll tell you that. He said it's daylight saving time, not daylight savings time.

Jack and I pluralized it like, you know, everyone does, but that is incorrect, it is actually daylight saving time. Time is never plural. Well, that's just like a philosophical statement right there, Jack. I mean, now you're just getting deep on us. Yadis, you're looking fantastic over there. Even if you're in minute 42 of the latest fish song. But Jack, you're also looking fantastic over there. And if you are coming to our live show in DC, we've got one request for you. Send us the best fact you had about our nation's capital so you can come up on stage and deliver IRA. We got a link in this episode description.

Just fill it out, drop that fact, and Jack and I can't wait to see you live. This show is Wednesday night, doors open at six, showtimes at seven. Now, Jack, we got to hit the flights. And before we head to our flights down to lovely Washington, D.C., a happy birthday to Adam Smith's wealth of nations. The book that's the basis for capitalism just turned 250 years old yesterday. Happy birthday to Joy Neumann, turn him 41 in Pennsylvania. And Mustafa Hassani, we see you in that birthday down in Dallas. Happy birthday to Sush and Basak, turning 32 in New Brunswick, Canada.

And Kristen Cruz, enjoy that fourth quarter birthday we got you every year. Big shout out to Lisa on Spotify. She says we missed her birthday. Belated shout out. Lisa, we love you. Yeah, Lisa, we're celebrating twice for you. And Raquel Antoin and Louis Naji have a nine-year anniversary of dating. Raquel gave Louis a Yeti doll down in Maryland for the celebration.

Guys, we love having couples at T-boy together. And congratulations to Gabby Tonwatco, who finished her first high-rock's race in Atlanta. And to anyone else celebrated something today making a tea boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack.

Nick owned stock of Beyondmeat. Sorry. Beyond protein plant supermaxing awesome company. And he also owns stock in the real real. And we both own ETFs of the S&P 500.

And a Bitcoin named Ben.