The Best One Yet - 🌝“The company building moon city” — Intuitive Machines + Nasa. Pork’s “other meat” problem. Reddit files to IPO.

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

5 countries have landed on the moon, now 1 company has: Intuitive Machines — Nasa was barely involved, because sometimes to grow, you have to let go. Pork demand is down in America for the last 20 years, because Chicken is taking over — The real problem? “The Other White Meat” marketing campaign.Reddit was one of the first social media companies, but will be the last to IPO — But the biggest risk to the company? Revolt. Literally.$RDDT $LUNR $TSNSubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, February 26th, and today's pod is the best one yet. It is a T-boy, baby. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, I'm sorry, pause the pot. I'm seeing you tomorrow, man.

Do you notice I'm a little tanner today? You are looking a little tanner today. Because I actually popped down to Florida to drop the family off before coming to see you in San Francisco. That's a really long layover, man. I'm taking a lot of points on this trip, man. Yeties, Jack and I are getting together this week. In the meantime, Jack, what's our first story for today's fantastic tea boy? Platinum status, here I come.

For our first story, Reddit just filed to IPO last week. It's the first big IPO of the year. So Jack and I spent all weekend in their IPO paperwork to tell you all about Reddit. For our second story, bacon sales have surprisingly been falling for 20 straight years. We're calling it the bacon backlash. The other white meat is losing to the other other white meat. And our third and final story. Last week, we told you that America landed on the moon again for the first time in 52 years.

But for the first time ever, it wasn't a country on the moon. It was a company. We're going to tell you about the publicly traded company whose ticker symbol is lunar. Lunar. But Yeties, before we had that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories to kick off the week, Jack. It's Monday. Welcome back to the office, everybody.

Do you notice something different out there? We think you do. Because the newest strategy to get you back into the office is smell. The new return to work strategy is scent. They're making the boardroom smell like your favorite bagel. They're making the lobby smell a lot like lavender. Sorry, Debbie, are you wearing perfume? No, but I think the entire office building is.

Yeties, the last time we discussed novel Return to Work Trends, it was the Instagramable office. They're making offices look poppy, so Millennial Millie will come on back and take pictures of the place. But now managers are turning to smell because research shows that scent is a powerful tool to boost people's moods. It turns out Frank from finance just commissioned a custom fragrance for your office. The Wall Street Journal noticed this major trend. Cubicles are starting to smell like chamomew. But Jack and I noticed that your boss isn't actually that original, are they, Jack? We've seen this strategy before, Nick. Actually, we've smelled the strategy before, right?

True, because the hotel industry, they love signature scents. Jack, is that Jasmine? I think that means we're at the Ritz. Oh, how about Sinabon or Antianz? They mastered the smell strategy over in the mall. They're strategically sticking their bacon ovens right by the door so they catch it from 50 yards away. But I wouldn't be a millennial if I didn't mention Abercrombie and Fitch because A&F pioneered the smell strategy. Somewhere in your closet is a cute crop top that still smells like Abercrombie's cologne. After 75 washes, you can't get that smell out of it. I think it got stronger.

It smells like abs. So, Yetis, if your office suddenly smells like eucalyptus. Best use, if you're getting whiffs of, oh, do we work? Oh, that ain't Chanel number five you're working with. That's the new return-to-work strategy. The smell strategy. Hey, Jack, let's hit our risk. 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. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. For our first story, Reddit just filed to IPO next month. This will be the final social media company to finally go public. We're going to tell you all about Reddit.

But this is the first social media company we've ever seen that's worried about revolt. Jack, let's go back to 2004. You had pimples, I had pimples, and so did a young Marky Mark Zuckie Zuck down in Boston, baby. Well, one year after Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook at the Harvard, sorry, the Facebook at Harvard. Just outside Boston. Two guys founded Reddit over at UVA. Facebook launched, Reddit launched, and the social media era had begun. Now, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest, they all IPOed years ago.

They're all publicly traded stock. But Reddit was the only one of those social media giants that had an IPO. It was still a private company. But then came last week. Reddit finally filed their paperwork to go. public on the stock market. That means after 19 years, we finally have the financials on the secretive company Reddit. That means after 19 years, we finally have the inside scoop on what they call the front page of the internet. But Jack, what was the first surprise about this $5 billion

IPO for Reddit? After 19 years, Reddit is still unprofitable. And Jack, what's the second surprise we noticed about this $5 billion Reddit IP? Guess who's the third biggest shareholder of Reddit? Who is it, man? Sam Alton. Sam Alvin. What is he doing? He's everywhere. How many Sam Altman's are there? I think there's six of them. One set. Sam, we're not talking about you. You know, we're talking about you. He's here, Jack. He's right next to me. Now, the way Nick and I see it, when it comes to Reddit, you're either on Reddit for hours a day or you just like vaguely are aware that Reddit exists. Yet he's 267 million people log into Reddit every single week. That actually makes it one of the smaller major social media companies. But if you did log into Reddit over the last seven years, then on average, you log in.

for 45 minutes a day. So for hardcore users, it's one of the most engaged social media platforms. Reddit invented online anonymity. Most of the users on Reddit, they don't reveal their names. Reddit also invented the AMA to Ask Me Anything event. Besties, Reddit is where you go when you just got a new camera for Christmas. And frankly, you have no idea how to use that camera. You'll ask them, like, how do I connect it to my computer? You'll get some friendly responses, like some genuinely helpful feedback from the Redditors. You're going to see helpful posts on Reddit, helpful pictures on Reddit, and one person is going to insult your mother. Because of the anonymous. Yeah, you're right.

So Jack and I jumped into Reddit's IPO paperwork. And Jack, how is the first way Reddit actually makes money? Advertising. For example, if you go to the subreddit for Sana, that's a good place to advertise for saunas if you're selling sanas. Or for cold plunges or heated foot massagers. The second way Reddit makes money besides advertising, they're actually selling all the content on the platform to tech companies to try. train their AI models. Get this Yeti's Reddit's content, what you were writing, is actually being used to train artificial intelligence. Reddit just signed a deal with Google that pays Reddit $60 million a year to feed Google's

AI with Reddit conversations and the occasional insult about your mother. But yet is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The most mentioned word in Reddit's IPO paperwork, what was it, Jack? Community. They mentioned it 439 times. But you'll be shocked to learn who. manages that community. So Jack and Sam, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Reddit? This is the first time we've seen a company mention revolt as a risk. Yeah, it is when a company

goes public, they must, by law, transparently disclose the risks that that company faces. And one of the risks that Reddit faces is that their volunteer moderators will revolt against the company. Yeah, that's what Reddit said in their IPO paperwork. Like, Reddit depends on thousands of volunteers to create and enforce their rules for posting and commenting on Reddit. For example, the famous subreddit Wall Street bets, that is governed by a volunteer who just raised their hand and said, I'll manage this subreddit. So as Reddit faces pressure from public markets and scrutiny from the public, the CEO may have to make moves that the volunteers don't like.

And that may be the biggest risk of all, that Reddit upsets their volunteer moderators. If those volunteers revolt, then Reddit transforms from organized, chaos into just chaos. And that's why Reddit is the first company we've ever seen to mention revolt as a risk. For our second story, we got an update on America's diet. Yetis, we are not eating pork, the other white meat. It's the bacon backlash. And Nick and I think it's because of the three Fs of fads. Jack, can you take us back to 2011? You and I are in college together. What is going on? Set the scene for us, please. Back in 2011, bacon was everywhere. It was on every menu.

It was added to every dish. It was added to things you don't eat, too. You couldn't buy a salad without hearing them add the bacon on it. It was the Ron Swanson diet. There was the bacon-wrapped dates, the bacon-wrapped scalps, the bacon-wrapped candle. I had a bacon-wrapped water, Jack. The tenderloin La Croy.

Bacon sold back then. So Yeties, to chase that pork demand, Iowa became the pork capital of the world. There's actually eight hogs per Iowa. still today in Iowa. Ham, sausage, ribs, bacon. That was the John, the Paul, the George, and the wringo of food. But here's the news. Pork demand in the United States has plummeted.

Sales of pork across the United States are 9% lower today than they were 20 years ago. But Jack, could you sprinkle? I'm sorry, could you season on some context for us, please? That 9% drop is not adjusted for the population increase or the inflation that's happened in the last 20 years. So 9% shrinkage is actually a lot worse than it sounds. Yetis, we are eating less bacon out there. It's good for your cholesterol, but it is bad for parts of the economy.

Tyson, the biggest meat producer in the country, they've got too many pigs, so they're actually losing $30 per hog that they raise. But yeties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The key reason why pork is struggling right now is because of the bacon backfire. The brilliant marketing campaign we all grew up with, it actually ended up hurting pork, not helping it. know what marketing campaign we're talking about. Like the other white meek, it debuted back in 1987 as a way to promote pork. Pork, the other white meat. At the time, chicken consumption was

absolutely soaring in the United States. So the big brains over at big pork said, hey, if America's eating white meat chicken, why not eat white meat pork too? So they called themselves white meat. But instead, for the next 25 years, the other white meat campaign caused Americans to compare chicken with pork. Okay, here's where the problem happens yet. He's pork is the other white meat. That is also not the original white meat and it is the more expensive of the two white meats. When Americans considered chicken, one white meat, with pork, the other white meat, they went with chicken because it's the lower priced white meat. It's like the pork industry has been regretting now that they did this whole other white meat

thing. Like, Jack, what do they think they should have done instead? Industry insiders say they should have said we're like beef, but cheaper. That should have been their catchphrase. Have a ham. We're cheaper than sirloin. So today, the pork industry is pretty desperate. They're trying to win back busy millennials by making the meat easier to cook. That's their latest strategy. Get this.

According to the Wall Street Journal, what is the newest pork invention, Jack? Quick to cook bacon. We're calling it brisk bacon. Brisk bacon. Here's what this is. It's pre-cooked bacon that you buy at the store so that it cooks in just 10 minutes instead of 20 minutes. It cooks in half the time. Yeah, because we're all too busy TikTok and to wait 10 minutes to make ourselves a proper bacon egg and cheese.

You ain't waiting for no bacon. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the pork industry? Food, fashion, and fitness are the industry's most vulnerable to fads. You know, we shouldn't be surprised that America's love for bacon was a fad because it falls into one of the three Fs of fads. Fashion, fitness, and food. We can point to three stocks that boomed when their fad was in and then busted when their fad was out.

First, we saw it with fashion. Levi is up when jeans are in, but Levi is down when jeans go out. And we saw it with fitness. Palaton boomed and then it busted. it just like a Nordic track. And we see it all the time with food. Plant-based meat boomed with beyond meat. Full disclosure, Jack and I own shares, and then they fell apart.

Plant-based meat, peloton, jeans. They're all fads at one time or another. Jack and I like to call them tastemaker stocks, because they're subject more to short-term fads, the long-term trends. And food, fitness, and fashion. Those are the three Fs that frequently fall to fads. For our third and final story, for the first time ever, a country didn't land on the moon, a company landed on the moon. This is a story about intuitive machines. The first moon stock is trying to create the first moon city.

I have a jack, put down the bacon for a second. Let's whip up some trivia. There are only five countries that have successfully landed on the moon. What are they? The United States did it first in 1969, but so has the Soviet Union, China, Japan, and India. But only one of those countries has put humans on the moon. And who is that, my friend? That's the United States. And last week, for the first time since the Apollo 17 program back in 1972, America is back on the moon. After 50 years, America is...

Oh, whoa. It wasn't exactly America, was it, Jack? It wasn't America per se. It was intuitive machines, a $1 billion publicly traded company whose ticker symbol is aptly named Lunar. Unlike SpaceX and unlike Blue Origin, this space company is focused on one thing and one thing only, the moon. And it's co-founded by an Iranian American, Dr. Cam Gatharian, who's celebrating that successful soft landing on the moon right now. So last Thursday night, Intuitive's aircraft landed on the moon.

It's about the size of like a surfboard. That's what this thing kind of looks like. But it's the first lunar module to land on the moon that's not owned by a government. It's owned by a company. So the stock of the company jumped 25% last week because they landed. landed on the moon. Ladies, it's up 300% this year because one small step for man, one giant leap for the stock. It should be up way more than that.

They landed on the moon, Nick. What have you done lately, Heinz ketchup? And they didn't crash it on the moon. They softly landed it as smooth as like the way you park or crack. Maddie's NASA sanctioned this mission to explore parts of the moon that have never been seen before. And the lunar lander, it's actually just going to remain up there forever. It's going to be an outpost for, future exploration of space. It could one day be the cornerstone of Moon City. It's the initial

building block of Moon City. Your great grandkids may be hanging out on a street corner in Moon City. But here's what Nick and I noticed about this. There were no humans on board this aircraft, but capitalism was on board. This wasn't like your typical patriotic moon landing, was it, Jack? It was no American flag, no stars and stripes, no military salutes. And it was star-spangled banner like ripping up the sides of this rocket shift. Instead, it was basically a flying advertisement going 25,000 miles per hour. Get this besties. To drum up marketing for this product,

this space company collabed with a famous artist. They hired Jeff Coons to design 125 moon sculptures, which are on the moon right now and they're going to stay up there. It's like a house warming gift for Moon City, which hopefully gets built someday up there. And to improve the branding of this

space company, they collabed with an athletic apparel company on the spaceship. Columbia Sportswear, they designed your jackets installation, and this spaceship's insulation too. And since they're leaving this lunar lander on the moon, one tech company has some pretty big brag and marketing rights right now, Jack. Lone Star Data Holdings is now the only data server holding data on the moon.

This is the first company to land on the moon, and they did it like a flying billboard. Let's hope they got some good promo codes for all those corporate handouts. T-minus three, two, one. Houston, what's the takeaway for all our buddies here on her? NASA just showed the power of letting go. Yet he's the big question everyone was wondering with this moment was where was NASA the whole time? NASA was there with Apollo 13, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17.

But NASA doesn't have a lead role in the space missions anymore. They instead have a supporting role. NASA's budget for the American government is now one-tenth of what it was at its height in the late 60s, early 70s. So for the last decade, NASA has outsourced their work. and the numbers in this moon landing milestone are the perfect example of it. According to a former NASA director, the same mission, if run by NASA, would have cost over $500 million. But instead, NASA delegated this to a private company, which had the incentive to keep costs down and did the mission at one-fifth of price.

NASA got an 80% discount by taking the lesser role and letting a private company do it, which ultimately saved Americans $400 million. You heck and I should point out this outsourcing plan, it isn't perfect, right, Jack? That landing last week, it didn't feel like a moment for the country to come together. Oh, and unlike NASA, intuitive focus is on profits, not science, humanity, and America. But still, it's the first company to land on the moon, and it shows the power of letting go. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Reddit has filed to IPO.

It'll be the final social media company to go public. But it's the first time we've ever seen a company, say, A risk to their business is revolt. For our second story, pork sales in America are lower today than 20 years ago. We're eating chicken instead. It's the bacon backlash. We could have known bacon was a fad because it's one of the three Fs of Fads, food, fashion, and fitness. And our third and final story is intuitive machines.

They parked a lunar lander safely on the moon, and they planned to leave it there forever. NASA saved 400 million bucks by not going to the moon themselves, showing the power of letting go. But Yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, stocks also went to the moon. They hit another record high at the end of last week. Not too shabby. The S&P 500 points for the first time ever,

and the Dow also hit a record high. And second, remember last week when we said American Airlines raise their check bag fee and we said other airlines would do the same thing? United Airlines just raised their check bag fee by five bucks, and so did JetBlue. Your move, Delta. Your move. Sometimes airlines don't compete. They just say, me too.

And finally, those baseball jerseys made by Nike for Major League Baseball, we got another update for you. The players don't just hate the fit and the aesthetic of the uniform. They're also seethru. You can see the players' caps. The wardrobe malfunctions are everywhere. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Amit Batia from lovely Cleveland, Ohio, the Paris on the lake. The first ever road sign that forbid you for making a left turn.

Where was it, Jack? It was in Buffalo, New York. They had the first ever sign that forbid you for making a left turn, a no left turn sign. So if you're in Buffalo right now and you're turning right, that's why. Buffalo, don't make a left. Make three rights. Besties, before we head out, the best way to grow the show is if you leave us a review. And this time, why don't you sign off with your Reddit username?

Anonymous Owl 46. We love your five-star review. Only one person knows my Reddit username, Nick. It's Sam Alvin. Yeah, how do you know his username? Sam, what are you doing in this podcast? You're everywhere. Yeti's Jack and I'll see you tomorrow. Jack.

I'll see in San Francisco. And before we go, congratulations to Yeti Alice Krieger, who just survived her Bachelorette party weekend down in Nashville. Avalin Lee was there to tell the terror, but don't worry, what happens on Broadway. Stays on Broadway. And Av Kippoor just got done self-reveau. birthday for two weeks over in Tokyo. Happy birthday to Albert Alamani in Barcelona, Spain.

And Ben Tani, happy birthday down in Greenwich, Connecticut. Congratulations to Miro Montiel, who's getting in his MBA from the Berkeley High School of Business. And Luciano Wahapaya is celebrating a birthday and just launched his new app Cook Genius. Check it out. And happy birthday to Jesse Brefle, who's celebrating with some chocolate in Bluffdale, Utah. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a TV. Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Levi's, Niccoe and stock of Beyond Me, and we both own stock of Peloton and ETFs of the S&P 500.