The Best One Yet - 🤼 “Real Fighting + Fake Fighting” — WWE’s Pay-Per-View. Lemon8’s sneaky app. GM’s CarPlay ban.

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

World Wrestling Entertainment was just acquired for $9B (fake fight), but now it’s merging with Ultimate Fight Championships (real fighting) into a knockout stock (literally). The fastest-growing app in the US right now? It’s Lemon8. But Lemon8’s secret Chinese owner is all over the American App Store. And GM just made the most annoying car decision of the year: Banning CarPlay… GM’s become a Stage 5 Data Clinger.$PINS $META $WWE $EDR $GM $AAPL Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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. It's Tuesday, T-boy, Tuesday, April 4th. And today's pod is the best one yet. Not April Fool's, April 4th. April 4th. By the way, you went deep V-A-A-Az there, Jack. I know.

I got rid of my undershirt to show off the V. I love it. It's like you're not even wearing a shirt at all, man. Like it. Borderline, love it. First story. What do we got for the T-boy? World Wrestling Entertainment just got acquired for 9 billion.

And it's all thanks to Ari Gold. Do you smell? What Ari Gold is cooking. Second story, what do we get? For our second story, we're looking at Lemonate. It's the fastest growing app in the United States right now. But there's one strange mystery behind who actually owns Lemonate. And our third and final story is General Motors.

They want to ban your favorite part of your car, Apple CarPlay, because GM has a bad case of data envy. They are stage five data clingers. But yet he's before we hit that fantastic mix. Just a wonderful mix for a T-Boy Tuesday. The score is April Fool's Day 1, Nick and Jack Zero. Every year we know it's coming. Every year we have our calendars marked. And every single year, Jack and I kind of fall for it.

There was one product launch. We were sure was just an April Fool's Day prank. And we were talking over the weekend, we were like, wait, this has to be, this can't be, this cannot be an actual real thing. It's got to be fake. But it was real. Tesla just launched a beautiful. We repeat, Tesla, the car company is brewing a brewski. In other words, Elon traded out the carburetor for a kegator.

Less batteries, more breweries. You can go from zero to 60 in a Model X. But you can now go from 60 to zero in a pint glass. Now, this new beer, which is real, you can buy it online. It's a Tesla beer. They call it gigabier. Yeah, they do. It'll cost you $99 for this three pack of this Tesla beer.

Now, of course, you shouldn't and you can't drink and drive. And yet this car company is making a beer? And then Jack and I jumped in tea boyst out. We noticed it's not the first time Elon has cooked up an alcohol. Tesla once made their own tequila. Yeah, Tesla Kila, that was a real thing too. But this beer, $99 for a three-pack? 99 bucks, Jack.

Why is it so expensive? Well, the answer is on the ingredient label. The answer is the hops, because Tesla claims that they brew this beer with cyber hops. Not hops, but cyber hops, a real made-up marketing thing. Oh, and the bottle? It's shaped like a cyber truck. Oh, and there's a glow in the dark ink that is in that bottle. All right, so let's keep tabs here.

Tesla made a beer and a tequila, but it hasn't made the truck yet. Jack, even though Elon promised a truck from Tesla four years ago. They're selling cyber beer in three packs, but cyber trucks in zero packs. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Tesla beer? This is the fourth greatest beer in all of the Dutchland. Behind Steiner Martin, Radenberger, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, Bex? And Bex, Jack, and Bex. Let's hear our three stories.

Grandpapa. Grandpapa. 15 years before this song, two boys from the northeast met in the dorm, they had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. That's it. 50%, that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list.

If you know you know, you know, because we're read to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show. For our first story, the WW World Wrestling Entertainment, just got acquired for $9 billion. Now, the best of real fighting and fake fighting is one publicly traded company. Now, yet is when the world thinks about American capitalism.

One physical figure seems to often come to mind, and who is that, Jack? Well, maybe this person comes to mind. We're talking about Vince McMahon. And Vince McMahon made one of the, greatest investments ever, but it was really thanks to his dad, although he should thank his dad. In 1982, Vince McMahon bought a pro wrestling league from his dad for a million dollars. And Vince McMahon and his six biceps are behind some wrestling sensations whom you may know.

Hall Cogan, The Rock, John Sina, they all got famous thanks to Vince's WWE. They've got an ambiguous nickname. There's a good chance that Vince McMahon helped come up. with it. Jesse the body Ventura? Yeah, that was Vince. Well, 41 years after buying W.W.E for one million dollars, Vince McMahon is now selling that enterprise for $9 billion with a B dollars. We crunched the numbers for you. That's a 9,000 X return. Jack, I'm double checking our numbers here and it looks like it was actually a 9,000 X return. Yet he's W.E was acquired by Endeavor, the publicly traded entertainment company that is run by Ari Emanuel, the same guy who inspired Ari Gold in entourage, right, Jack?

That's right. And thanks to this news, Wall Street is going to have a publicly traded stock devoted to scantily clad skull crushing, both real and fake. And the reason Yetis is because that entertainment company endeavor, they had already acquired the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championships. Ultimate Fighting Championship. The Fighting League, that's totally real, like fists hit face. Unlike WWE, not as much fake. is going on. And immediately after this deal, they're going to combine the UFC with WWE and spin it off into one separate publicly traded company. And the name of that new company, not sure yet, but we do have the ticker symbol. Yeah, we do know what the stock's going to be. The ticker symbol is TKO, as in technical

knockout. Yeties, let's add all this up for a second. That single stock is going to be the home of real fighting in a caged octagon. And that single stock will be the home of staged theatrical fighting in a square boxing ring. Because that stock is going to have both the UFC and the WWE. And get this, that stock is going to be worth and expected $21 billion thanks to the $2.4 billion in revenue from these two fighting leagues. Yiddies, we sat down, stood up and got pinned down again. $21 billion for two fighting leagues in one company.

$21 billion. That's one zoom. That's five peloton's. That's seven lifts. Which leads to the big question. Jack and I are wondering how is fake and real fighting worth so much? The answer? Just look at the pay-per-view. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in world wrestling entertainment?

The proof is in the pay-per-view. You want to know how devoted this fighting fan base is? Just look at WrestleMania 39, the epic two-day wrestling event. The WWE's biggest event of the year just happened this past weekend. And they sold out L.A.'s football stadium two nights and a row. Twice. 161,000 people pay big money to watch big body slam. Oh, I'm sorry. Are you still not satisfied with that evidence? You want better proof of how devoted this fan basis? Yeah, geez, the UFC is so popular. Watching an event on TV requires pay-per-view. You have to pay to watch that event on top of your cable

package. The UFC's so popular, they charge fans 80 bucks through their TV subscription to watch the fight. And the WWE is so popular, they can sell out 80. thousand person football stadiums two nights in a row. The fan bases of UFC and WWE, they're not as broad as the major sports are. No, good point check. They're not as broad, but what they are is deeper. They're deeper. And the proof is in the pay-per-view. And that's why it's worth $21 billion. For our second story, one of the fastest growing apps in the United States right now, it's a little app called Lemon 8. Lemon 8. Lemon 8.

Not lemonade, lemonade. But the real story isn't lemonade. The real story here is the secret owner of lemonade. Last week, the number one app in the lifestyle category, the number 10 app overall, and the app getting downloaded 60,000 times per day in the United States. What was it, Nick? Jack, our internet went out for a second, but I loved your momentum. Who is that app, man? It's the two-month-old app called Lemon 8.

Lemon 8. Yet he's Lemon 8 is basically like if Pinterest and Instagram had some adorably cute baby. It's kind of like a Pinstagram, you could call it. It looks like Pinterest. It feels like Instagram. So naturally, Jack and I jumped in T-Boy style and we noticed that the app makes you browse by a few different lifestyle topics. They're like, are you interested in beauty, fashion, wellness, food, travel. What's, what do you hear for? I'm sorry, where's all of the above? Well, this app, in one way it's like Instagram. Visually stunning images of furniture, sushi, or even that cute top that you want to buy. But in other ways, it's really like Pinterest. There's how-to videos. There's advice posts.

There's inspiration from others for your own life. Like one post is going to show the perfect boho chic mirror for your meditation room and then where you can buy it. Another post is going to be a perfectly seared slam and salmon salmon and how to cook it just read. And then a final post is going to be three ways you can wear that flannel romper and absolutely look fantastic. So we tried to jump in further T-boy style to understand who is behind this app. And that's when we noticed this strange description of the app itself. Lemonate describes itself as a content sharing platform for a youthful community. Okay, that was a little bit of a bizarre self-description.

But then we noticed that the owner of the app was also kind of strange. The owner is called Helophilia, company we've never heard of, but that sounds like a disease name. Now Yeties, this Lemonade app, it is growing. thanks to a ton of paid marketing. But then here's the question, who is paying for all that marketing? Who's the company that owns it? There's no About Us page in the app or the website, and the company just never says anywhere who it's owned by. So Jack and I had to find out who owns this app, and that's when we found an address. The address for the parent company, Heliophilia, is one Raffles K, number 26, Singapore. Jack, funny address, because when we googled that address,

what else did we notice? That's where Biker. Bight Dance is based. Bight Dance, the owner of TikTok. What we're saying is that Lemonate is based in the same building in Singapore as TikTok. And according to Bloomberg, Lemonate is run by a man named Alex Shoe who works at Bight Dance, TikTok's parent company, and who used to be the CEO of TikTok. Okay, so Jack, let's add all this up for a second. Lemonate, the app, is based in the same building as TikTok. It is run by a TikTok employee.

And that TikTok employee... The former CEO. Was the former CEO of TikTok. It looks like TikTok secretly launched a non-Tick-Tac app in the United States this February. Jack, there's no confirmation, but it sure smells like that. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over a TikTok? The U.S. App Store is now the Chinese App Store. Yet he's every week.

Jack and I check the top 10 apps in the United States. We want to know what are Americans downloading today. Right now, Americans are downloading Chinese apps in a crazy fashion. Okay, Yetis, get this. Back in January, we told you about the shopping app Timo. It's a Chinese app that is number one in the app store right now.

And last year, we told you about the shopping app app she-in. It's a Chinese app that's now number five in the app store. And then, of course, TikTok is a Chinese app, and it's number four in the U.S. app store. Another app is Capcut, which lets you edit videos. Turns out that's owned by TikTok too. It's a Chinese app that's number two in the U.S. app store.

And last week, Lemonate, briefly, track the top 10 in the U.S. App Store. Besties right now, four out of the five top apps in the American App Store are Chinese owned. Four out of the top five. TikTok success has spurred other Chinese tech companies to crack the U.S. swiping recipe. Today, the American App Store is really a Chinese app store. Now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. Jack and I can count a dozen movies about time travel.

That one with the time traveling hot tub or the one with the crazy hair guy in the car. Well, all those are all fictional films, aren't they, Jack? There's one real-life move that might make you okay with not having a time machine. Yeah, saving for your retirement. Around 60% of Americans wish they had socked away more for retirement, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. That's why Robin Hood created the only IRA with a 1% match for eligible contributions every year. So maybe you don't need a time machine.

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Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. For our third and final story, General Motors just announced the most annoying change to your Chevy we've ever seen. General Motors is banning Apple CarPlay because it has data envy. I mean, Jack, have we. We're going to jump into this story. Can you whip out that hero stat for us? Love this hero stat.

According to Apple, 79% of car buyers in America insist that their car have Apple CarPlay. 79% of you, Yeties, you're not buying a Corolla without the car play. Apple CarPlay, the most essential part of a car

after the steering wheel. I mean, Jack, like a blinker, that's nice to have. I don't have Spotify? I'm not driving that car, man. Thanks to Apple CarPlay, your Toyota RF4 is a rolling iPhone. Cars, their iPhones,

Now, like you can call your buddy, Timmy, you can use Google Maps, you can have Siri read that 43rd message in a row in your family text chain that came from your in-laws, all of that from your car. And Android has the same thing if you're an Android guy. But here's the news, Jack. General Motors is banning carplay and Android Connect from all their electric cars starting in 2024. Now, Yetis, we should sprinkle on a little more context here. If your General Motors car has car play right now, it'll stay there. You're safe. Don't worry. But new. electric cars, starting with the model year 2024, no car play allowed.

That's a nish-nished. Instead, General Motors will let you play music and let you call your buddy Timmy and let you text your family, but you're going to have to do it through GM software. General Motors software. Detroit built software. Now, ladies, here's why Jack and I were fascinated with this story. There is one reason why General Motors is making a

decision that is absolutely worse for you. GM's doing this because they don't want Apple getting all of your driving data. GM wants that data. Yeah, now customers, they're going to complain. They're not going to be happy when this happens, right, Jack? Because GM is not a tech company, despite everything that they'll say. They're not going to be able to whip up a delightful tech experience like Silicon Valley can. Yeti's GM knows that the most important asset in the digital economy is your data. And cars right now, they're digital things. Yes, they are. Cars are becoming iPhones on. wheels. And GM wants 100% of that iPhone data. Yes, they do. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at GM? GM has data envy. And so does everyone else right now. Yaddies, this is a classic.

This is a stage five case of data envy. General Motors wants data so badly, it'll make your experience worse to get it. And we noticed other companies are getting territorial and selfish with your data too. For example, Jack, what's Amazon do? After you order something on Amazon, you'll get an email confirmation with no order details in that email. And here's the reason. Amazon doesn't want Google seeing what you're buying through Gmail so they make you click a link into the Amazon app. It's frustrating. And here's another example. You get an email from LinkedIn saying you just got a message from Nick Martel. But instead of conveniently showing you that message that I sent Jack saying he looks fantastic in his new LinkedIn photo, LinkedIn makes you open their app instead. Nick,

it's a great message. I wish I didn't have to open a new app to find a find out. Yeties every company wants you using their app so only they can see your data. It's data envy. They want your data so bad, they'll worsen your customer experience for it. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? The WWE is merging with UFC to create a $21 billion fighting company. So how are these fighting leagues so profitable? The proof is in the pay-per-view. Our second story is Lemonate. It's Pinterest meets Instagram and it's one of the five Chinese apps at the top of the app store right now. Right now, the U.S. App Store is really the Chinese App Store. And our third and final story, General Motors is banning Apple CarPlay for electric cars

starting in 2024. GM, we know you've got data envy right now. So they're cutting out Apple and Google. Klinger. Stage 5. Clinger. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Tyler Hyle from lovely Evanston, Illinois. Last week we told you about the TSA update their travel policy on peanut butter. Homeland Security no longer allowing peanut butter on planes because it's liquid. What gives TSA? But we tested peanut butter. Nick put it over his head, not a drop of peanut butter spilled on his head.

Every afternoon, 4 p.m. I have a Skippy's peanut butter. I put it on my head. I didn't spill jack. Well, Tyler kind of explains why. Peanut butter is a different classification. It's not just solid. It's not just liquid. Technically yet, he's peanut butter is a non-neutonian fluid.

These fluids are weird because they exhibit changes to their viscosity. Yes, their shape changes based on the amount of force that is applied to them. Much like a face in WWA. Peanut Butter literally defies the laws of physics. It's not a solid, not quite a liquid. It's a non-Newtonian fluid. And frankly, Jack and I are actually a little more confused now. Still frustrated by that TSA positive.

Yetis, you look fantastic today. And if you've got an update on peanut butter that'll help clarify this even further for us, you should hit us up at T-BoyPod. If it further confuses things, we'll take that too. H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Have you had the best one yet? If you know, you know. And before we go, a special shout-out to Yeti Mallory in Miami, Florida,

who is celebrating a birthday and also has a pretty big announcement. This is a T-boy first. We have a gender review. feel everybody. Jack, what are we going to see? Mallory and Trevor are having a baby. Yes. Are you ready? Talk to me. It's a boy. It's a boy. It's a baby boy. Congratulations. And Mo and Sarah haven't missed an episode of the best one yet in three years and they are getting married today right down the street in San Francisco. Beautiful day. Congratulations to Lindsay Sab, who just got a new job just outside of Boston. Just outside Boston. And Sidney Vaughn is becoming a Brown University Bear. Isn't she, Jack?

She is a brown bear, baby. She got accepted to Brown and the PLME medical program last week. Congratulations, Sydney. And a happy 33rd birthday to Sam Wilkins in Eugene, Oregon. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, and Nick and I both on stock of Apple, Peloton, Spotify, and Robin Hood.

And now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. Not spending money can be tough. We're all tempted by that top we just saw on TikTok. Even harder, saving money for when you're 60. But what if you got paid money to save money? Robin Hood Retirement offers the only IRA that does that on every eligible contribution every year. For every eligible dollar you contribute to your retirement fund, they match 1% of it. No employer necessary. Limitations apply.

To get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-Boy and get your first stock for free. Conditions apply. That's robin hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. All investments involve for. risk. Contributions to and withdrawals from IRAs may entail tax consequences. Robin Hood does not provide tax advice. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. And, and, and, and, and, and, bex. And bex.