The Best One Yet - 🔥 “Profile pics are dead” — Tinder’s vid game. Airlines’ great pilot panic. Blackstone’s $6B house party.

Episode Date: June 23, 2021

Match just splurged $2B on video tech to make your Hot Vaxx Summer dates feel like a game. Airlines are facing such a pilot shortage that you’ll probably pay more for your flight (and then it’ll probably be canceled). And the biggest landlord on Earth, Blackstone, bets $6B that real estate is at a peak, not a summit.$MTCH $BX $DAL $AAL Got 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 23rd. Snackers, yesterday's stocks inched closer to a record hot. So close, Jack, this podcast. Way better than yesterday's podcast. We just say that?

This is a T-boy. For our first story, Tinder just killed the profile pick. It's all about video now. Jack, if it doesn't look like a dating app and it doesn't smell like a dating app. Is it a dating app? For our second story, Blackstone is one of the biggest landlords on planet Earth. I mean, it's not a pure play landlord stock, but now it's a lot. Lorden over 17,000 more homes.

For our third and final story, airlines just flew straight into the great pilot panic of 2021. I mean, Jack, you were annoyed when they took away the peanuts. I was. Now they're canceling your flight. I actually don't think I have a single flight booked right now, which is like the first time since last year. But if you did, Jack, it would be canceled.

Thanks for clarifying. Snackers, before you hit those three fantastic stories. It's a wonderful mix today, Jack. Nick, yeah, Jack. Do you remember when your teacher, got knocked out, lacrosse practice. Worst lacrosse practice of my life, Jack. Best thing to happen to my face, though.

I've returned to the dorm room. I looked at Nick's face. There was nothing between the canines. I think you drove me to the dentist, but fake teeth, honestly, they're better than real teeth. By the way, I know what your college sports highlight is, Jack. I know what it is. You know what it is. I wasn't playing lacrosse.

I was throwing my buddy Timmy a touchdown pass. That was my highlight. If you're going to throw a pass to Timmy, it better come from Middlebury's number one backup QB, Jack. I was the starting backup and I'm proud of it. Jack, we're former college athletes. Now I feel like we're more the dabblers and Pilates. Yes.

And we are uniquely interested in yesterday's surprise news from the NFL. Carl Nassib, defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders. Carl Nassib. Now, the first active NFL player ever to come out publicly as gay. I mean, Jack, in a world of squats and protecting this house, walking out of the weight room closet, that takes guts. Carl jumped on his Instagram Monday afternoon. And he highlighted the importance of coming out for representation and visibility. And he said he's hoping someday coming out won't even be a necessary thing, just another thing.

But in 2021, for this former Penn State linebacker and current Cubie hunting raider, this coming out for Monday matters big time. Jack, if Uber disrupted the taxi industry. Then defensive end Carl Nassiv just disrupted sports culture. Carl, let's hit our three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal. The snacks about to hear ain't food, it's air candy.

They don't reflect the views of the Robin Hood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robohood Financial, LLC, member FINRA slash SIPC.

For our first story, Jack, profile picks, they are dead. Tinder is jumping into videos hard. I think the evidence is clear here. Tinder wants you forever, not just for your single life. Forever, ever? Now, we got to go back to February, Jack, which, like, it isn't really a dating month because it's cold, but it's also like the ultimate dating month technically.

Yeah, Valentine's Day is in February. That's when Match Group found love, and they acquired a video tech company for $2 billion. They put away the Ben and Jerry's. They pulled out a white claw, and it was a beautiful thing. It just closed. Well, yesterday, they announced why they did that.

Yeah, they did. By unveiling two new Tinder features. That's right. Snackers, big word from the CEO of Tinder. We think Tinder can do more than just swipe and match and chat. Tinder's not just some Cupid algorithm. They got other stuff going on too, apparently. Behold profile videos now downloadable on the latest version of Tinder. This isn't just a carousel of still picks at you.

Well, an edited version of you. You can now bring your profile on Tinder to life with videos that people can swipe. Okay, but key here, it can only be up to 15 seconds, but you can still be doing something cute at your best angle. That's the idea.

It doesn't have to be your puppy for it to be in your profile video. Pro tip, any puppy will do. The second new Tinder feature is hot takes. Hot takes. This is a 30-second, basically speed dating feature where you can have a 30-second video conversation

with someone before deciding whether to swipe right or swipe left on them. They're going to hit you with a prompt. Jack, what kind of prompt are they going to hit you at in this? Really quickly, they're going to be like, okay, Jennifer Lopez, she's back with Ben Affleck, good or back. Then you and someone else are going to discuss. Basically, it turns into like a shark tank pitch, hey sharks, I'm a 28-year-old former chef with zero roommates.

But it's only 30 seconds. And this feature, Hot Takes, it's also only available on the app from 6 p.m. to midnight. Makes sense. Which makes sense, because you don't want to be swiping under. to your desk at the office and then suddenly being like a FaceTime with somebody. That gets awkward. Also, let's say you find a nice match at 6.15 p.m. Jack, you walk downstairs, maybe eat up for dinner a little bit later that night. So spontaneous, Nick. You're very romantic. It's not me, Jack. It's the fake front teeth. Now, Snackers, these new features,

they're definitely going to increase the swipeability of the Tinder app. I mean, absolutely, Jack. You're more likely to find love from a video than you are from just a static picture on Tinder. But Nick and I noticed, Tinder is looking less and less like a dating app. Yeah. Profile videos is a lot like Snapchat stories. And Jack, these hot takes feature, it's kind of like Instagram live. So what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Tinder? Dating apps, they're transforming into social media apps. Snackers, a couple months ago, Jack and I covered Bumble's earnings report and their one big new feature, BFF. BFF simply connects women with other women for friendships. not love ships.

So here's what we're thinking. Tinder's latest moves in video. They are the second example of a dating app expanding to a wider use. Tinder and Bumble, they both want to evolve past the short-termness of dating. To the long-termness of social media.

Because a dating app is fundamentally transaction. The goal is to use it once and then never use it again. But a social media app is fundamentally experiential. The goal is to use it and again and again and keep enjoying it.

To stay on your, phone forever. Ever, ever? We're noticing the dating apps. They're looking more like social media apps. The dating apps are basically social media apps. For our second story, Blackstone is the largest private landlord on planet Earth right now. Blackstone's latest acquisition shows that they think the housing market is going to continue booming. Blackstone, basically an army of well-educated money managers, right, Jack? Yes. And those money managers, they don't have stocked trading ideas. No, they don't. They have invest. investing convictions. That's what they call. They do. And when they have one of these convictions,

they commit to that conviction by investing billions of dollars with shareholder money. And recently, a major conviction area for Blackstone is specific sectors of the real estate market. They're walking around the neighborhood. They're picking streets. They're choosing something different. Blackstone owns $378 billion worth of real estate globally. But here's what Jack and I find fascinating about Blackstone, the $6 billion of real estate that they just acquired. On Tuesday, they announced the acquisition of Chicago-based Home Partners of America. Home Partners of America. Blackstone, it's not just doing the marble offices with the big impressionist paintings and the places where you've got to show your ID every time you walk in.

Yeah. This extremely wealthy company is actually acquiring 17,000 relatively modest homes, which it plans to collect rent on. And they're going to add that to Blackstone's profit puppy, Jack, the line item, rent collection. One point six billion dollars last. year for Blackstone came from real estate fees, lease payments, and rent. So if you live in one of these lovely 17,000 abodes outside of Chicago, Jack and I think you can come to expect two things pretty soon. Now that Blackstone is technically your landlord, you should expect rents to get raised aggressively, unfortunately. You can also expect to have a really bad website interface for which to make your rent payments. You're probably going to have to send it a check. Also, Blackstone's going to try to maximize

profits on these homes. So expect like you're super to be less responsive and less likely to like fix or replace something. I mean, Jack, you're talking about the slow showerhead situation. I had one of these landlords in California. It was terrible. You get a low flow situation. You look, the fixture is made by some former Soviet Republicans. It's tough. Not the shower that you want. And not the super that you want. This is what happens when an institutional investor buys the house that you live in. Probably not great news for the renters, But a fascinating insight for Snackers, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Blackstone? Real estate is at a peak, but Blackstone sees an even higher summit.

Snackers, Blackstone doesn't just collect rent, like some kind of subscription biz. They're also hoping the value of this underlying real estate grows. Yes, and they have a long track record of eventually selling the real estate they previously acquired at a big, profitable game. So here's the funny thing for this moment right now. You may think that Blackstone is buying at a high. I think there's no way real estate prices can go higher from here. Well, Jack, can you whip out our whiteboard and show us Exhibit A? This week, we learned that the medium home price in the United States hit a record

$350,000 last month, which is up 24% from last year. So it does look like we're at a real estate high. Now, Blackstone's last major splurge on real estate was back in 2009, shortly after the housing crisis. Back then, it was buying real estate at a low. But today, it appears Blackstone is buying at a high. The opposite of what your uncle who's been in real estate for 3,000 years told you to do. But this $6 billion investment, that shows Blackstone has conviction. Conviction.

That real estate prices will continue rising in this country. And the smart money of Blackstone wants to collect rent while it waits. For our third and final story, airlines are enjoying the great comeback as Americans are flying again. But the airline great comeback is like. to be followed by the great backlash. Raise your hand if you flew this month. Keep it raised if your flight time was delayed and or canceled. A lot of you have flown in the past month, TSA data confirms it. It does. The number of flyers so far in June is 72% of what it was back in 2019's normal levels. That is way up from June of 2020 when flyers were just 18% of normal level.

But here's the funny thing, Jack, and I notice, the great air travel comeback, it's caused a major problem. Not enough pilots to fly the planes. We got the great pilot panic of 2021, Jack. Because pilots over the past year, they were Netflixing like the rest of us because the airlines didn't need them. I mean, they haven't touched a plane chassis in 15 months. And now that they're needed again, the airlines can't just turn them back on with an ignition switch.

They need training these pilots. Steve, where's that landing gear button again? Where'd you put that? Snackers, yesterday we talked about the chicken wing shortage. It was bad. Here's what happens when there's a pilot. of an airplane shortage. I mean, take us down to Dallas, Jack.

American Airlines? What are they doing over there? They preemptively canceled 1,000 flights in the first two weeks of July. Now, meanwhile, Delta, full disclosure, Sky Miles frequent flyer, announced a major hiring spree instead. Yeah, they don't want to cancel flights. So they've announced they're hiring a thousand new pilots by next summer. So if you want to fly, go apply.

Jack's like terms and details apply. CC spots for more details. Use promo code Nick and Jack. United, on the other hand, they're so stressed out with this whole pilot panic situation that they actually brought up, they brought up the long-term pilot issue, Jack. It turns out most commercial airplane pilots used to be military. So they were trained by like the Air Force. True.

And since the Cold War is over, the United CEO points out the military is producing fewer pilots. There's a shortage in our future. So United whipped out its academic robes. It's launching Aviate, which is. which is an academy to ramp up recruitment to get new pilots in the seats. It's literally a pilot training school. They had to create a school to get more pilots. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies top gunning over in the airlines?

Airlines are doing great, and that's going to cause a backlash. Yeah, how are airlines reacting to the pilot panic of 2021 besides canceling flights, of course? They're raising prices. Yeah, they are. And they're hoping that higher prices deter the surplus flyers and rebalance the airline. market. Get this, Snackers. Airline fares that you're paying are already 24% higher in May than they were last year. And guess what? It's probably going to be even worse in June and July and August and September. Expect to pay more. And this has all been great news for the airline industry. An ETF that tracks U.S. airline stocks is up 100% from where it was at the lows of the pandemic.

Okay, so Snackers, here's the situation. Consumers were angry about canceled flights. They're angrier about pricier flights. But consumers are angriest. when they realized that airlines got a $50 billion bailout from taxpayers last year. Maybe American Airlines shouldn't have booked flights that it didn't have enough pilots for in the first place. And maybe American Airlines should call you back and not make you wait for three hours and have that number that lets them call you back instead of waiting. Honestly, Snackers, we think this backlash against the airlines may not even make a dent on their stock prices, though. That's the wild thing about the backlash.

Airlines are already one of the most disliked industries ever. You're not going to like the way you fly. We guarantee it. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us over there? Match group stock is way higher than where it was before the pandemic. And they just launched video because Tinder is a social media app, not a dating app as much. For a second story, Blackstone has conviction that real estate in the U.S. will continue to rise. So that's why it's splurge $6 billion on homes to collect rent on in the meantime.

Third and final story, the airlines are short on pilots, so they're canceling flights and raising prices. Yeah, get ready for the great consumer backlash at 2021 next. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one sent in by Nick and Jack from New York and Vermont of this year podcast. Okay, just yesterday, Nick and I saw that Steven Spielberg signed a big deal to make a bunch of movies for Netflix. But here's what we're thinking. Netflix actually missed out on a huge package deal. They should have got John Williams, too.

You gotta get Johnny Williams for this thing. Steven Spielberg and John Williams are the ultimate bromads of Hollywood directing and doing movies for a ridiculous list of great films. There is no better audio visual combination since the human central nervous system. Tier one of this duo, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park. Spielberg directed Williams' music. Second tier, saving private ride. Oh my God.

Catch me if you can. Keep going. Lincoln. Okay, Spielberg directed him. Williams Music. Snackers, you'll look fantastic today, and here's what we're thinking. If you want to get a shout out for a friend or yourself on this podcast, there's a link in the episode description.

Let's say you also have a snack fact. You want to get a snack fact shout out on this podcast. There's a link in the episode description. If you know, you know, now you know. Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait, Jack. And before we go, happy birthday to Snacker Nathan Ramesh over in San Diego. And happy birthday to Ashley in Anchorage, Alaska.

And congrats on the one-year anniversary. to you are Ernesto down in Seattle. And happy birthday to Josh in Chicago. And Derek and Andrea Vander are congrats on the anniversary over in Iowa. Bobby just got a new job with the San Francisco Giants. You can hook us up or not hook us up.

I don't know. Is that a violation? I don't know. Jack and I didn't say anything. McCovey. Keep those free tickets under $100. That was not a solicitation for advice. And to anyone else celebrating anything today, make it a team. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Bumble. 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, 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.

Dude, can I say real estate is at a peak? Yeah. Because remember, that's what you said after we sold. Oh, dude, actually, after we got 30 under 30, you remember that? No. You said this is a peak. It's not the summit. Oh, I didn't remember that.

That's a great line. It was a great line. I was at Michigan when you told me. Oh, dude, that's great. It's really good. I was standing by the elevator bit, Michigan. And I called you because you didn't know, and I did. Oh, yeah, you did call me on it.

And dude, off the cuff, you said that. Like, he said it was a peak. It's not the sound. And you know what? I definitely did not think of that ahead of time.