The Best One Yet - 🧠 “Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday the real Friday, March 21st. 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. I'm sorry, Jack. Did we set a record this week? Record number of recordings? That's right. We did five T-boy episodes, two TBIY episodes. Oh, we got a special one today, man. And today we're interviewing an executive, a CEO and co-founder of a legendary business. Oh, that episode's going to be amazing. We're interviewing later today, and besties, you'll get that episode in just a few weeks. Eight episodes of production in one week? That's a personal record. One sec, Jack, I got to grab a lozenge. In the meantime, we got three fantastic stories for today's T-boy, Jack.

Starting point is 00:00:45 What do we got on the show? For our first story, Apple TV Plus has a really big night tonight. Huge. It's the season finale of severance. But did you know that Apple TV Plus loses a billion bucks a year? Apple TV Plus is Apple's only. only money losing business, and we'll explain why. Awkward.

Starting point is 00:01:04 For our second story, Ben and Jerry sued its parent company in the biggest corporate drama of the year. Because Ben and Jerry's acquisition deal reminds us of Barstool. And our third and final story. Invidia just hosted what used to be their annual tech conference, but what is now the Super Bowl of AI. Because Nvidia is borrowing a strategy straight out of Barbie. Yeah, that Barbie. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. mix of stories, Jack. Love the mix today. The most viral show on TV right now is Severance.

Starting point is 00:01:36 Severance, the Severance season finale. It is tonight. Severance is a sci-fi dromedy, directed by Ben Stiller about work-life separation. Literally, your brain is split into two, one part for your work, one part for your life. Your Eni only experiences work life. While your Audi only experiences life outside of work. Your work self has no idea what's going on where you're at home, self because your brain is severed. But whether you watch the show or not, there is one looming character you need to know about. Don't worry, Basties, no spoilers in today's show. That character is Lumen. Lumen. And it's a scary company. Oh, Lumen's very scary. Lumen is the evil corporation in severance. But while Lumen is fictional in this show, there's a bunch of actual Lumans in real life.

Starting point is 00:02:24 In fact, the Wall Street Journal counted dozens of Lumenes that really exist in real life corporate America. For example, there's Lumen Design over in Pennsylvania. Or Jack, there's Lumen Dental up in Detroit. There's Lumen Telecom down in Louisiana. There's even a Lumen in Poland that saw job applications jump 300% this year. Because applicants love Severance and they want real Lumen to be on their reservation. In fact, Jack and I took this further. There's actually a long history of fictional Hollywood companies in the real world. Yes, there is. There's a real way star company in Idaho. Just like the show's Succession. And there's a real Acme company in San Francisco.

Starting point is 00:03:01 Just like the show Looney Tunes. Jack, I just discovered a van delay industries over in Mumbai, India. Can you believe that? Importing exporting? Classic. Thinking about just focusing on the exporting? It's exactly their specialties.

Starting point is 00:03:15 So, Yetis, we hope your outies enjoy the final episode of Severance tonight. And if you're lucky, Frank from Finance, will pay for a waffle party. I don't get that reference. Nick wrote that line. Just keep refining the macro data, Jack. Praise Kear.

Starting point is 00:03:27 Let's sit our three stories. 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 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.

Starting point is 00:03:46 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. Apple TV Plus. It's got another hit with Severance, which closes out season two tonight. Despite lots of Emmy nominations and a bunch of award show recognition, Apple TV Plus is Apple's only division that's never turned to profit.

Starting point is 00:04:24 And we'll explain why. But first, Jack, I mean, this is a big night for Apple's streaming division, the finale of Severance. We just dedicated a whole intro to the good news about that, though. So here's the bad news. Apple TV Plus is only 1% of all of streaming. That's it. In fact, according to a report from the information, Apple TV Plus is Apple's biggest loser. It loses a billion dollars every year. Is Michael Scott running this business? What's going on over there at Appleman? Apple streaming service is the company's only not profitable subscription. Now, yet is the problem is not that severance costs $20 million per episode, which it does. The problem Apple is facing is something we've seen in sports. They've made a bunch of unforced errors. Forced errors. Jack, could you please sprinkle on some media context over there, please? Apple is doing great when it comes to content. Since 2019, they've had hit shows that win awards.

Starting point is 00:05:20 They're referred to as the new HBO. Ted Lasso, the morning show, Severance, all of them. Emmy award-winning red carpet prestige TV. Coda won Best Picture at the Oscars. We crashed was a personal favorite of ours. But financially speaking, it's a different story. Yeah, all that content we just mentioned, yeah, that costs $5 billion a year. So Nick and I crunch the numbers. Apple needs 42 million subscribers to Apple TV Plus, who paid $10 a month to pay just for that content budget. Now, we should point out Apple does have 45 million subscribers, not too shabby. But they're not profitable because of other surprise costs that are crushing the streamers' profits.

Starting point is 00:06:01 That whole campaign to win all those awards, that actually costs money to run. And flying around the talent in private jet, was a total surprise to Apple, how much that costs. Yeah, no joke, the financial team at Apple was really upset about how much money they were spending on private chats, right, Jack? But Apple could solve all this problem if they just got more subscribers.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Yeah, why can't Apple TV Plus become a profit puppy, man? They're getting all the awards. Why can't they get the eyeballs? They have a fraction as many subscribers as Netflix, HBO Max, or Amazon Prime. And the reason is our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Apple's problem in content is that they're missing a growth mindset.

Starting point is 00:06:42 Yet is Apple has made three key anti-growth mistakes that are the reason, in our opinion, it is unprofitable in streaming. Mistake number one, arrogance. Yeah, they've only let people watch on Apple devices. Apple gated Ted Lassow to Apple products only, hoping you'd buy an iPhone just to watch Ted play soccer. Ted Lassow's great. But is it really going to make someone switch their tech ecosystem from Android? to iPhone. It was only last month, Jack, after six years from their launch date, that Apple finally let Android users download Apple TV Plus. Mistake number two, high prices. Apple TV hardware

Starting point is 00:07:19 is priced at 200 bucks, while Roku is just 18. Firesticks, they're just 20 bucks. It's tough for Ted Lasso to sell Apple products when those Apple products are 10 times pricier than the competition. A mistake number three, no ad supported version. Apple is the only video stream that makes you pay full price. But in this economy, people are happy to watch ads to save five bucks a month. They could probably add 10 million subscribers easily

Starting point is 00:07:46 if they offered a $5 ad version. So AdLala Besties and Apple TV Plus has content that wins awards, but not enough eyeballs. They're lacking a growth mindset. For our second story, Ben and Jerry's is suing the very company that owns it, Unilever.

Starting point is 00:08:04 The kid's suing the parent over here. The Ben and Jerry's acquisition failed, though, for the same reason that the Barstool acquisition failed, we'll explain. Yeah, that's right. We're comparing Ben and Jerry's to Barstall. That's exactly right. But first, honestly, favorite part about the Ben and Jerry story. What is it, Jack? Ben and Jerry's basically bought the house that I grew up in. Yeah, no one really knows this, but Ben and Jerry's actually did an IPO decades ago, but like you could only live in Vermont, right? Only Vermonters could participate in the Ben and Jerry's IPO. It was wild. True. Unbeknownst to me, my parents bought like three grand of stock.

Starting point is 00:08:41 Incredible. It's six-xed to 18 grand, and they used that money for the down payment of the house I grew up in. Honestly, your mom and dad deserve a flavor named after them after that, Jack. My house is flavored chocolate chip cookie dough. Oh, that's big Ben and Jerry's money right there. Now, Yiddies, Jack and I actually did a whole episode on Ben and Jerry for our show, The Best Idea Yet, so we're very versed in the business. And we'd always wanted to do that, because those two are best friends,

Starting point is 00:09:06 just like Dick and I are, except those two didn't get into medical school and had no idea how to run a business. Well, they turned that ignorance into the largest ice cream company in America, and today it's owned by Unilever. But hold the fish food, please, Jack. Because Ben and Jerry's just sued Unilever, their parent company, accusing them of wrongly firing the Ben and Jerry's CEO. And Jack, could you open up the lid on this pint and tell us what is in the lawsuit exactly, man? The lawsuit says that Unilever fired Ben and Jerry's CEO for his business. politics, not his performance. They further allege that Unlawfully blocked Ben and Jerry's Instagram posts about free speech and Palestine. And four years ago, Ben and Jerry also sued Unilever

Starting point is 00:09:48 for stopping their social media posts about Black Lives Matter. This is like a kid fighting against their parents. Yeah, like the kid wants to do the protests on campus and their dad's like, um, I'm paying tuition. Go to class. Except Ben and Jerry's have a Trump card on their parents. Like, No other child parent relationship. And Jack and I found it in the fine print. 25 years ago, Yeti's, in the merger agreement, when Ben and Jerry sold to Unilever, there was an unprecedented legal clause. This clause was called the Mission Driven Governance Clause.

Starting point is 00:10:23 It was something Ben and Jerry specifically wanted that would split their company into two different scoops of control. Okay, on the one hand, Unilever would control the business. That was one scoop. After all, they're buying the company. So Unilever gets to decide what. kind of dairy goes into the ice cream, how many chocolate chips, and how much cookie dough in the chunky monkey. But Ben and Jerry's also created another board that would remain independent of Unilever

Starting point is 00:10:46 to oversee the brand. And this independent board was in charge of Ben and Jerry's social activism, where they would advocate for progressive causes. All right, like the independent board would be in charge of the Ben and Jerry's foundation, which donates to progressive causes as well. And it's this independent board and this unique separation that explains why Ben and Jerry's social handles talk just as much about social justice as they do ice cream. Like they're posted about UNICEF on the one hand more than they're posting about caramel swirls over there. And so 25 years later, Ben and Jerry says that Unilever's blocking of their social posts violates that merger agreement. And they allege the CEO was fired for his role in social activism,

Starting point is 00:11:26 not for his performance. Which is another violation of the merger agreement. All this drama, it is a big reason why Unilever is actually spinning off Ben and Jerry's into a new separate public traded ice cream company. They're metaphorically disowning this child who never listens to them. Oh, side note, by the way, Ben and Jerry, they want to buy back the business, don't they, Jack? How epic would that be if Ben and Jerry's 25 years after selling Ben and Jerry's, buy back Ben and Jerry's? And then they launched like a new flavor called contempt mint chip. It's the low-key Unilever flavor. One more order of lawsuit soft serve, please. So Jack, I scream, you scream, we all scream for some.

Starting point is 00:12:06 Legal clarity, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Ben and Jerry's? Ben and Jerry's acquisition didn't work for the same reason Barstool didn't work. Yeties, Vermont's Ben and Jerry and Boston's Barstool Sports. They both got acquired in multi-hundred million-dollar deals. But both parent companies came to regret those acquisitions. Yeah, they did. For the same fundamental reason. Because the brands of Ben and Jerry and Barstool are actually built on a foundation of political outspokenness.

Starting point is 00:12:35 The corporations that bought them thought they could get the brand love of Ben and Jerry's and Barstool, minus all their risky speech and social posts. But it turns out the two were inseparable. Now, ironically, the outspokenness is politically opposite between those two brands, isn't it check? Ben and Jerry's is more progressive, while Barstool is more conservative. But the outcome of their acquisitions was the same. The parent company now wants to sell them because of too much brand risk. Dave Portnoy bought back Barstool, and now Ben and Jerry are trying to buy them. buy back Ben and Jerry's. So we never thought we'd see it,

Starting point is 00:13:07 and we never thought we'd say it. But Ben and Jerry's acquisition didn't work for the same reason barstools didn't work. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the biggest event of the week, one of the biggest of the year, the Super Bowl of AI,

Starting point is 00:13:29 hosted by Nvidia. Because Nvidia's computer chips have become the new Barbie dolls. Yet is 16 years ago. NVIDIA, the computer chip company, hosted their first GPU tech conference in Silicon Valley. Nerd alert. Nerd alert. That was back in 2009.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Computer chips, yeah, they weren't that cool. If you said GPU out loud, you get stuffed in the gym locker room. Get in there, Jensen. Now, that first NVIDIA event, it really felt like a science fair 16 years ago. But this year, it feels like some kind of a sporting event. Because this week, Nvidia turned their chip conference into the self-described Super Bowl of AI. The city of San Jose, California,

Starting point is 00:14:12 has been covered in green and black invidia flags all week. 25,000 attendees. Hotel prices hit 2,000 bucks a night down in San Jose. And it really has felt like the Super Bowl because there were ticket scalpers. That many people wanted to get in

Starting point is 00:14:27 to see Jensen Huang speak. There were even tailgates. Denny's set up food trucks like it was giant stadium outside the artificial intelligence event. And that Denny's cameo was a nod to Jensen, who came up with the idea for his company over a grand slam breakfast at Denny's. Yeah, he is the CEO of NVIDIA. He wore leather to the event, and he's basically become the Taylor Swift of CPUs.

Starting point is 00:14:50 We thought at the end of the event, he would pull a gronk and like spike one of his $40,000 chips on the turf like a football. Our prediction, next year, they're going to have cheerleaders cheering on the new Nvidia chips coming out with the GPUs. So very high expectations Invidia set for themselves. Again, they called it the Super Bowl of AI. But for all those stakes, we got to say, they delivered. Because Nvidia involved consumer businesses in a way that would make Chris Collingsworth cry. You like what way to do there, Jack? You barely landed that way.

Starting point is 00:15:21 So the first thing Nvidia did was they shockingly partnered with Taco Bell Pizza Hut and KFC. Nvidia is going to power the drive-through of all Yum Brands restaurants. Nvidia chips are going to optimize all the operations at these fast food chains, so a human doesn't mess up your chalupa order. Then, Nvidia announced another partnership with General Motors, the car company. Nvidia is suddenly going to be powering General Motors self-driving cars. Invidia's GPUs are going to be in your next Corvette, handling the hands-free cruise control.

Starting point is 00:15:52 And finally, at nowhere, Nvidia launched a new robot with Walt Disney. You got to watch the video. It's wild. It's called blue. It's about half as tall as a human being. and it looks like Wally mixed with R2D2. And the reason they're doing this, well,

Starting point is 00:16:08 NVIDIA chips will power Disney World robots from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot. And every one of the robots is going to have two Nvidia computers inside it. Next time you're talking to Tinkerbell, she's going to have a couple Nvidia chips in her back. So nobody expected Taco Bell,

Starting point is 00:16:22 Cadillac, and Disney to be on stage at this computer chip conference in San Jose. However, Jensen's $3 trillion chip company is doing way more than chatbots these days. They use this conference to show you that AI is going to be everywhere. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Nvidia, hosting the Super Bowl of Artificial Intelligence?

Starting point is 00:16:42 Invidia has found the Barbie effect, but B2B. Yeties, remember this detail from the 2023 Barbie movie? Barbie did a record 165 collaborations before the movie. Every company that could launched a pink partnership with the Barbie movie. Yeah, they did. They wanted their value to increase by a socialization. with Barbie. That what Jack just described is the Barbie effect. But typically, we only see it for consumer brands, and yet invidia has broken that molding. Computer chips are a very

Starting point is 00:17:15 unconsumer business. Yeah, they totally are not, Jack. It's a B2B back end historically boring enterprise. But Nvidia's market domination, invidia's tech breakthroughs, they now signal excellence even to the consumer. That's why Pizza and Disney World want to be publicly associated with Nvidia. And that's why Nvidia's industry event looks more like a football game these days. Every brand wants a touch of Nvidia green, just like they wanted a touch of Barbie pink two years ago. And that's the Barbie effect, even if no consumer will ever buy an Nvidia chip. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Apple TV Plus content wins tons of Emmys, but the streamer reportedly loses a billion dollars a year.

Starting point is 00:17:58 We found three mistakes by Apple. Apple, you got to have a growth mind. For our second story, it's Ben and Jerry's. They sued their parent company again, alleging violation of their wild merger agreement. Ben and Jerry's, their acquisition failed for the same reasons bar stools failed. And our third and final story is NVIDIA. They hosted the Super Bowl of AI in San Jose this week. Dozens of splashy partnerships were announced. Yeah, we call it the Barbie effect, but for chips, because everyone wants a little touch of NVIDIA green. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, congratulations to the skim.

Starting point is 00:18:35 The newsletter that kicked off the newsletter movement over a decade ago, they just sold. After 13 years, the skim is no longer independent. They sold to everyday health group. As of today, they've got 5 million readers, and they've raised $30 million in venture capital money. We don't know how much it's sold for, but celebrate the wins on that deal. And second, edible arrangements is getting into other edibles. Edible arrangements. A private company sells decorative fruit bouquet.

Starting point is 00:19:03 and balloon assortments. Yeah, full disclosure, I sent a huge balloon one over to Jack after the baby came. It was awesome. Everyone was chomping on cantaloupe all week. You know you love those pineapple smoothies. But for years,

Starting point is 00:19:16 they've wanted to get in on the growing cannabis market. So edible arrangements acquired the domain edibles.com after years of trying and they're launching a platform for edible cannabis and hemp products. And finally,

Starting point is 00:19:28 the Boston Celtics have sold for a record $6 billion. The buyer is Bill Chisholm, a six-foot man in finance who may or may not have a trust fund, but definitely went to Dartmouth and Warden. Yeah, it's exactly who you'd expect would buy the Boston Celtics. Yeah, to sprinkle out some more context. This is the highest price ever paid for a North American sports team. There are other North American franchises more valuable.

Starting point is 00:19:52 They just haven't sold for an amount this high. Yeah, the Yankees are worth $7.6 billion, and the Cowboys are worth $10 billion. Now, time for the best fact yet. this one whipped up by Kevin Dolan over in Yonkers, New York. Why is the NCAA basketball tournament referred to as the Big Dance? Well, the nickname Big Dance goes back to Marquette's coach Al McGuire back in 1977. When Astafee would wear a lucky blazer throughout the tournament, he responded, you got to wear the blue blazer when you got to do the big dance.

Starting point is 00:20:26 Well, that year, Marquette went on to win the National NCAA title. They won the Big Dance. And so the March Madness Basketball Tournament has been referred to ever since as the big dance. So, besties, if you've got the best fact yet, hit us up. We got a link in this episode description. We want to get you on the bottom. Yiddies, you look fantastic today. And Jack, you look fantastic.

Starting point is 00:20:48 I believe we've got a little surprise coming to the Yetis this weekend, don't we tomorrow? We're dropping a sample, a free Costco sample of our Best Idea Yen episode. Yeah, we're dropping a sample of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. That's coming tomorrow. So check it out on this few. And in the meantime, Jack, it's the weekend. Let's celebrate some wins. We recorded more shows this week than we ever have in our lives. Eight episodes. Eight episodes. Oh, stay tuned for this CEO one. This is going to be a great interview. Have a great weekend. Nick and I'll see you Monday. Can't wait.

Starting point is 00:21:19 And before we go, a happy 17th birthday to Keel and C. the Yeti in Lake Worth, Florida, celebrating the wins. Happy birthday to a father and son, Antonio and Augie Maldonado in Austin. turning 32 and 5 years old. Enjoy some barbecue. And Kiara Boys down in Provo, Utah has never missed a T-Boy, so we would never miss that birthday. Celebrating. Happy birthday to Sarah Keel of Knoxville, Tennessee,

Starting point is 00:21:50 the mother of three wonderful gray cats. And Jet Fries turning seven years old, celebrating in the Anaheim Hills of California. Happy birthday, Jeff. And happy birthday to Peter Schau in Dallas, Texas. And John Doherty, happy 30th birthday to New to New Jersey. Never missed an episode. Again, John will never miss your birthday. And happy 40th birthday to Amen Sylve, who's celebrating on the islands of Hawaii.

Starting point is 00:22:13 Not too shabby. And Willa G. Happy fifth birthday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Willa, thanks for listening and being a Yeti. And Chrissy Duller is getting her hair blown out tonight for the real Friday. And congratulations to Catherine Hedrick and Clellan McMurray in Alexandria, Virginia, who are getting hitched. And Bree and Jeff Thomas down in Princeton have their first date night of 2025 and are celebrated a T-boy pot anniversary. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy.

Starting point is 00:22:45 Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Disney, Unilever, Netflix, and Nick and I both on stock of Apple.

The Best One Yet - 🧠 “Severed” – AppleTV+ dirty secret. Ben & Jerry’s chocolatey lawsuit. Nvidia’s AI Super Bowl.

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