The Best One Yet - ☘️ “Split The G” — Guinness’ viral surge. North Korea’s Bitcoin heist. Hollywood’s conserva-pivot.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, March 13th. 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. Stocks rebounding like a young Steph Curry over there. I said Steph Curry, Jack, because it wasn't a big rebound. It was kind of a small rebound. I think stocks rose on encouraging inflation data from the month of February. Inflation. It's all I got to say about that. Jack, three stories for today's show. What are we got on the T-Boy? For our first story, Guinness. The 266-year-old Irish beer is glowing as we enter St. Patty's Day weekend. The reason Guinness sales are an all-time high?

Starting point is 00:00:41 The most fun drink-tivity since he got Smearn off iced. For our second story, we need to talk about North Korea's elite hacking team, known as the Lazarus Group. The Lazarus Group. Because that team of professional hackers just pulled off the biggest money heist in history. And our third and final story. Hollywood is making a major pivot. They forgot to make TV for Trump's America.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Besties, the TV you watch is about to go through Ron Swansification. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories, Jack. Pause the pod. We're asking for a five-second favor. A five-second favor that benefits us and you will explain. Can you make sure you're following this show and auto-downloading episodes? We repeat following and auto-downloading.

Starting point is 00:01:29 Both of those are actually huge for our business. Jack, could you sprinkle on some context, please? The podcast industry made a technical change. Basically, the industry messed with our download numbers, which is how podcast performance is actually measured. So, we're asking you to help us. Actually, we'll share some insider info because Jack and I are deep in the podcasting industry. Apple and others turned off a feature for auto downloads of podcasts. The result is that download numbers, which determine how much we get paid dropped for every player in podcasts. But here's the key besties. You can help us. And it only takes five seconds. All you got to do, make sure you follow the show and turn on auto downloads. That's it. Like these two small

Starting point is 00:02:15 five second fixes, they're going to bring us back to where we were in the numbers before that tech tweak. And that would be huge. So Yeties, here's the deal. If you're on Apple, go to our show page, tap the follow button on the top right and then tap the down arrow to auto download. Five seconds. If you're on Spotify, go to our show page, tap the plus sign to follow, and then tap the gear button for settings and click auto download. Five seconds. And if you're on any other platform, just tap where it says follow or subscribe. And then auto download.

Starting point is 00:02:47 And if you watch on YouTube, open up a podcast app on your phone, follow and auto subscribe. H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Besties, we aren't just podcast hosts. We run this entire podcast business, and there is so much more we have planned for T-Boy and you. Decades more T-Boy. It's our life's work, whipping up the takeaways for you every day. So this is all we got to ask of you. Take these five seconds right now to follow and auto-download the show. It's the best way you can support the pod. And it ensures you'll never miss an episode of the best one yet. Again, you can do this faster. The Jack and Say Cookie

Starting point is 00:03:23 Chris. You got one in you, Jack? Go. Okay, Chris. In fact, you can do it right now while we're playing the jingle. True. Now is the perfect time. This is the perfect time. We're going to pause the pod.

Starting point is 00:03:34 Jack, follow, auto download. Let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. This. 50%.

Starting point is 00:03:52 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, on the eve of St. Patty's Day, Guinness Sales are on their hottest streak in a century. Sorry, make that two centuries. And it's all because of a viral drinktivity, known as splitting the G. But Jack, before we tell the story to the Yetis, what do we think is the greatest real estate deal Well, for everyone who's never been to the original Guinness factory in Dublin, when Alfred

Starting point is 00:04:44 Guinness opened that brewery in Ireland, he signed a 9,000-year lease. Not nine months. Nine thousand years. Yeah, Guinness. They're sitting on a 9,000-year lease. That's right. Guinness goes back to 1759. It's actually one of the three oldest beer brands on planet Earth.

Starting point is 00:05:02 It's a dark, creamy nitrogen-infused beer that looks like a confused coffee. Yeties, you don't drink Guinness. Guinness drinks you. Now, alcohol sales overall in this economy are dropping, and Guinness hasn't updated their logo or their branding since Queen Victoria. And yet, despite those macrochens I just mentioned, Guinness sales, they're not just at an all-time high. They're accelerating. Yeah, Guinness? They just had their fourth year of double-digit sales growth,

Starting point is 00:05:28 not too shabby. Last year, Guinness sales rose by 17%. And since the pandemic, they're up 85%. Demand for Guinness is so unquenchable, they're building a new $200 million brewery in Ireland, which I believe is a Guinness record check. I don't think they're going to get a 9,000-year lease on that one, no. No, they're not. However, Guinness's surge has gotten so crazy that there were rumors on Wall Street last month

Starting point is 00:05:53 that they're going to sell the business for $10 billion. Diageo, the British alcohol company that owns Guinness, denies it, though. They say they're keeping Guinness in home. But still, you can't deny those. numbers. So we got curious, what is driving this latest Guinness surge after 200 years? It's actually a drinking game, or as we call it, a drinktivity. Ah, a drinktivity known as splitting the G. Jack, can you tell us exactly how you split the G over there? You go up to the bartender and you ask for a full pint of Guinness. Then, in your first sip, you try to drink just the right amount of Guinness

Starting point is 00:06:29 so that when you're done, the beer line under the foam perfectly strikes the middle of the G. Yeah, basically, Guinness glasses say the word Guinness down the center, and your goal is to drink uninterruptedly until the foam is right in the center of the G. You try to split the G. So we have traced this term, in fact, back to Urban Dictionary in 2018. That's where it was first used. But it went viral on TikTok and on Instagram, starting in 2022. Now, the technical term for those who have mastered splitting the G is GINFluencers.

Starting point is 00:07:01 GINFluencers can split the G like a pro athlete. And over the holidays, they split a lot. lot of Ginez. Guinness actually suffered a shortage because everyone was doing this drinktivity together. They had to ration kegs across British pubs to make sure everybody got a little. But Jack, what was the biggest surprise for our buddies over at Guinness? Women are driving this trend. Yeah, they are. Sales of Guinness to women in the United Kingdom are up 24% in the last year. So it's not just Patrick McFinnigan and Mickey Osolvin's with the lads over there. Although there's going to be a lot of McFinnigans and O'Sullivans this weekend doing just that.

Starting point is 00:07:34 Kim Kardashian, Olivia Rodriguez, the Princess of Wales, all of them have been spotted recently, split in the G. With the ladies. It's Ginsanity. It is. After 266 years, Guinness, which has never changed,

Starting point is 00:07:48 never, is enjoying all-time highs. So, Jack, what's the lucky takeaway for our buddies over at Guinness? One's company, two is a crowd, and three is a profit party. Yeties, there's actually a long history, of viral drink activities, including before social media. Yeager bombs and Smyranoff icing. Classic. Both of those drinking activities

Starting point is 00:08:11 catapulted the brands and boomed sales. But the underlying theme shared by all these drinktivities is actually that they created a group act. You're not splitting the G on your own in your apartment. And you're not Smyranoff icing yourself. Hopefully not. And this is a reminder how groups who share a product or an experience amplify its impact.

Starting point is 00:08:33 If your product simply becomes popular, that's good. But if the product becomes popular, especially with groups, that's great. Besties, sometimes a brand can create that. Sometimes it just happens organically. But either way, one's a company, two's a crowd, and three is a profit party. For our second story, we just saw the biggest money heist in history, and this was a Bitcoin heist. This story shines light on North Korea's one successful industry. professional cybercrime.

Starting point is 00:09:08 Yeties, Jack and I have been looking at the numbers and also our portfolios. And like all other risky investments, Bitcoin has lost its Trump bump. The price of Bitcoin is down to 83,000 as of this recording, which is down 25% from its all-time high. Yeah, it's now in a Trump slump. Ben the Bitcoin, he got pretty bruised this week. And one reason for Bitcoin's decline in particular is the biggest theft of all time, $1.5 billion of crypto was stolen last month. We're talking about the world's number two largest crypto exchange,

Starting point is 00:09:40 Bybit, which was, what were they doing exactly when the whole theft went down, Jack? By bit, which is huge in the rest of the world, but actually isn't active in the United States. They were just moving money from one of their accounts to another account. Okay, but then the hackers did something pretty sneaky. They secretly changed the address that the money was being sent to. Yeah. Minutes later, the CFO called the CEO, said they'd been hacked, and that that one and a half billion dollars he just wired is gone. Jack, I believe Butch Cassidy called this the old switcheroo.

Starting point is 00:10:10 Yes, that's exactly what it was. And the result was the biggest theft in the history of money. We repeat, there's never been a bank robbery or the theft of goods as big as this. One and a half billion dollars was stolen. You know, you're thinking, Batman, the Dark Knight, nope, the Joker didn't even steal this much. fictional money in that movie. Exactly. Now, ByBitt did manage to borrow money from banks and from pure companies to remain solvent. So they have survived this blow. And this company has put a bounty out on the thieves who stole their crypto like they were Bonnie and Clyde. But good luck finding them. Because according to the FBI, all of the hackers who stole Bybett's money, they're in North Korea.

Starting point is 00:10:52 North Korean hackers who are protected and probably hailed as national heroes because they are part of a secret North Korean group. First, I want to sprinkle on some context. North Korea is one of the last command economies in the world. And Jack, how exactly would we describe a command economy over there? China used to be one, but they're not anymore. A command economy is when the government decides all industry, not market forces. As a result of being a command economy, North Korea produces nothing the rest of the world wants. And as a result of that, North Korea is living sadly in terrible poverty. Without funding from China, North Korea would collapse. But North Korea, North Korea does excel at one thing.

Starting point is 00:11:31 And that thing is cybercrime. In fact, cybercrime is arguably, and we're going to argue it here, North Korea's greatest industry. Here's the deal. If Canada scouts its young people for hockey talent, North Korea scouts their young people for hacking talent. In fact, for the last 15 years, North Korea has put its top hackers into one secret organized criminal group called Lazarus. Lazarus is best in the world at stealing money from. foreign organizations by hacking and then giving that money to the government. And the government then uses that money to fund North Korea's nuclear missile program.

Starting point is 00:12:07 So Lazarus and their crypto that they just hacked last month, that became North Korea's government revenue. Yeah, what we're saying here is that Lazarus is kind of like the external IRS for the country in North Korea. Now, China and Russia are both very good at hacking and hack the United States all the time. But North Korea, especially pound for pound, is the number one hacker in the world. Yeah, as a percentage of GDP, North Korea, they're beating the rest of the world at the hack. They're already a global pariah. They don't care about the reputational hit of being a cybercrime state. They're the best of the worst. North Korea denies it, but we're going to trust the FBI's evidence on this one. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our

Starting point is 00:12:48 buddies watching the biggest heist in history? Crypto cannot reach its full potential until it tames the Wild West. It is telling that the biggest bank theft of all time didn't happen in a bank. It happened in crypto. Real banks have security measures in place to prevent or limit this kind of thing. Today, the crypto community is glad that the new administration is regulation light. But Sam Bankman freed's fraud and ByBits hacking show that regulation can be too light. Yeah, get this. On word of ByBit's record setting hack, half of their customers withdrew all of their money. That is a awful sign for the industry and they need to fix it.

Starting point is 00:13:30 On the other hand, banks have incredibly strict rules that you must follow to protect customer money. Crypto simply doesn't. Some rules and regulation could actually help crypto, not just hold it back. Take it from a couple guys who do own crypto. The industry needs to tame the Wild West. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the election was a wait. call for Hollywood. They've been underserving 150 million people. So instead of programming for

Starting point is 00:14:08 Emmy Awards, executives are now programming for conservatives. Yeties, in recent years, the top shows on TV, they cater to, honestly, coastal elites. Because that's who makes TV shows. Coastal Elites. We can tell you what was on the pitch decks for each of these shows. You ready? Succession, it was for MBAs. The Crown, it was for Blue Bloods. Shogun, Jack, who was Shogun for? Shogun for a foreign language film buffs who go to Dunkin' Donuts and ask for a croissant. Yeah, not our buddy Timmy, by the way. Ted Lassau has so many inclusive plot points. Great show might have a case of too many men on the field.

Starting point is 00:14:44 Now, each of those shows was popular with the Hollywood producers themselves. And people like the Hollywood producers. But the problem here was that there was a bigger audience out there. The series finale of Succession, one of the greatest shows in Emmy Awards history, got 4 million viewers from those coastal elite types we just told you about. Looks like a pretty big success right there. But Yellowstone, a show popular with Middle America, got 10 million viewers per episode.

Starting point is 00:15:11 More people have seen Kevin Costner pee off a horse than have watched a single episode of Severance. So Hollywood, by and large, is left leaning. The election was a wake-up call for their content. Art needs to imitate life. That's what Hollywood's now thinking. According to the Wall Street Journal, Hollywood is making a Trump pivot.

Starting point is 00:15:28 their tailoring television programming for the rest of America. Or as Jack and I would describe this phenomenon, Ron Swansification. Let's bring you back to the summer of 2020. After George Floyd's murder, A&E canceled their live police department show that was all about cops. But this January, A&E brought back the cops with a new cop show. They just replaced it. A&E also is bringing back Duck Dynasty, which was huge in the early 20 teens. Even though New Yorkers aren't shooting ducks over in Central Park.

Starting point is 00:15:58 And Netflix just announced yesterday, they signed a deal with a comedian who spoke at all the Trump rallies. And it's not just Netflix, because Amazon Prime also just added The Apprentice. And Nick, what's Disney's top show right now? It actually stars Tim Allen, who plays a loving dad who causes his daughter to cringe by dropping politically incorrect one-liners about her school. Big news, we are changing the school mascot. The Minuteman was not very inclusive. What's more inclusive than a dude wearing a wig, stockings, little high heels, holding onto a rifle. That kind of comedy is getting 10 million viewers per episode on ABC and Hulu.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Jack, could you just break a lot of little more context to 10 million viewers, please? Not only is that more than the season finale of succession, that's as much as Game of Thrones, HBO's best show of all time. Hollywood's wake-up call isn't just that they've been ignoring a big chunk of the country when it comes to programming. Is that that chunk of the country they've been ignoring? He's huge. Huge.

Starting point is 00:16:54 They've been missing out on 150 million T-Bri- TV watching Americans. And that's why they're now programming red meat for the red states. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Ron Swansifying over in Hollywood. Rule number one of business, don't tell potential customers that they're wrong. Hey, ladies, there's actually an interesting lesson here about how to interact with customers that we've learned from Google Maps. Google Maps. If you ignore Google Maps directions, they don't tell you you're wrong and to turn around. You're going to notice this now. Google Maps just reroutes you. Instead of taking a U-turn,

Starting point is 00:17:32 they just tell you to take the next turn. Google Maps does not correct its customers when they've made a mistake. And that's a broader business lesson. It's a lesson that Hollywood is taken right now. They're not going to tell their viewers to adapt to Hollywood's very own favorite content. They're not telling viewers this is how the White House should be by showing them West Wing. Instead, Hollywood is now adapting to its viewers' preferences. And that's a top rule in business. Don't tell potential customers that they're wrong. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Guinness sales are at all-time highs as splitting the G is the latest viral drinktivity.

Starting point is 00:18:12 One's company, two's a crowd, and three's a profit party. For our second story, By-Bit, lost one and a half billion dollars in crypto after it was hacked by North Korea's Lazarus Group. Crypto, it won't reach its full potential until it tames the Wild West. And our third and final story. The election was a wake-up call for Hollywood, who is now serving red meat to red states. Rule number one of business, don't tell potential customers that they're wrong. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, we got an update on the celebrity of economic reports.

Starting point is 00:18:48 Inflation slowed last month for the first time since September. Prices in February across the country were up 2.8% from the year before. Now, food prices were flat despite the eggflation situation. prices are up 59% from last year. The real test will be March and onward as Trump's tariffs begin showing up in the numbers. Speaking of which, second, we have WTF, which stands for Whiplash Tariff Forecast of the Day. Our daily update on what's happening with tariffs. Yesterday, Europe and Canada both retaliated to the Trump steel tariffs that were imposed also on Wednesday. Yeah, Europe's now targeting American whiskey and motorcycles with 50% tariffs. And Canada's

Starting point is 00:19:29 targeting Made in USA stuff with a 25% tariff of their own. And finally, TikTok just introduced a new feature to annoy teens off the app after 10 p.m. After 10 p.m., if you're a teen using TikTok, your screen is going to be taken over with calming meditation music. And they're going to urge you to put your phone. And if you stay on TikTok, another musical takeover happens, which is like a lot harder to ignore. And then if you stay on TikTok again, I think the app's just going to slap. and say go to bed. New feature, new feature.

Starting point is 00:20:01 Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Maria Kravici from Massapequa, Long Island. Until this year, the largest wine cellar in the world was Costco. And the most successful label of wines was Kirkland. That's right. Kirkland Cabernet was outselling the rest of the world's finest wines. And now we should point out this year, total wine and more has displaced Costco as the number one world wine seller. Total wine and more, which is apparently the Costco of just alcohol. But still,

Starting point is 00:20:33 Kirkland branded Costco wine is the top seller in the vast majority of wine categories. Jack, wine salesman of the month over here, what would you say about this Kirkland Cabernet? Hold on I need to keep wafting. I'd say it's the best idea yet. Yeties, we actually just dropped an entire episode on the untold origin story of Costco's Kirkland brand. It's all on our weekly show, the best idea yet. You got to listen to it. If you're going to Costco this weekend, you're doing a Costco run,

Starting point is 00:21:02 put on this episode in your car. We got a link in the episode description. The show is called The Best Idea Yet. Yeties, you look fantastic. Say Jack, oh, Jack, check your ankle. What am I looking at? Smearing off iced you over there. Oh, you got to finish it now.

Starting point is 00:21:18 Oh, you got to finish it before we do the credits. You're going to get down on one knee, right? You do, you do. Besties, we love potting with you. And remember, five seconds we would love you to pull off right now. Follow the show and click auto download. It would mean the world to us. And it's the best thing you can do for our business. Nick and I will be back tomorrow, as usual, with the best one, yeah. Can't wait.

Starting point is 00:21:41 Where we go, a happy birthday to Yeti, Sophie West, over in Boston, just outside Boston, a marathoner and a commercial real estate agent of the stars. Happy birthday to James from San Jose, California, a first-time dad with a four-month-old baby girl. Decky Crystal down in Cleveland, the Paris on the lake, is a puzzle queen and a J-crued deal finder with a birthday to celebrate. And a big shout out to all the Detroit Yetis out there. It's 3-13 day. You know, you know.

Starting point is 00:22:14 You know. You know. And Sherry Morris is a legendary power-engager on Instagram with Sherry. We just want to say thanks for being a legendary Yeti. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Disney, and Netflix.

Starting point is 00:22:34 Nick and I both on stock of Apple and Spotify, and we both own some Bitcoin. Name Ben.

The Best One Yet - ☘️ “Split The G” — Guinness’ viral surge. North Korea’s Bitcoin heist. Hollywood’s conserva-pivot.

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