The Best One Yet - 🧠 “The Genius Ingredient” — Elon’s biography takeaway. Twinkies’ snack sale. Google’s antitrust megatrial.

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

Walter Isaacson’s biography on Elon Musk arrives today, so we jumped in for you — And we found the common ingredient among geniuses like Elon, Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Steve Jobs: Curiosity.Twinkies’ parent Hostess is being acquired for $5.6B by Smuckers — Because the most important meal for Wall Street is snacks.A once every 25 years antitrust megatrial begins today against Google — But the biggest risk to Google isn’t losing the case. It’s losing its competitive mindset.$TWNK $SJM $TSLA $GOOGSubscribe 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. It's Tuesday, Team Boy, Tuesday, September 12th. And today's pod is the best one yet. On Tuesday, we wear T-Boy hats. Yes, we do. Although I happen to forget mine to home today, Jack. It's okay.

I have one behind me, too. You see that? You should have, like, four in my back when I gave one to a Yeti I saw the other day. Ready for the first story? Am I ready for the first story? What do we got on the show, Jack? The biggest book of the year comes out today. It's Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk.

Yeties, we're going to tell you the one character. trait shared by geniuses. For our second story, after going bankrupt, twice, Twinkies was just acquired for nearly $6 billion. Because the most important meal of the day for Wall Street isn't breakfast, it snacks. And our third and final story is Google. Google is about to begin the biggest anti-monopoly trial of the last 25 years. The greatest risk to Google isn't losing the case, it's losing its mindset.

But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stuff, we're going to be. Wonderful mix of stories for snack time, Jack. Love this mix. We have a wild opener. One woman in China was just arrested for having 16 different jobs. Jack, can you sprinkle on a little more context here? It's an unusual crime. She had 16 jobs at the same time. Get this. One woman held 16 corporate positions simultaneously. That's a lot of W9 forms, Nick. Oh, your hand's gonna get tired, Jack.

And the way she pulled this off was actually brilliant. Because she scaled her 16 different jobs into a single company. But let us back you up. First, this woman during the pandemic got a remote job. Then also during the pandemic, she got another remote job. But for that second job, she had her husband do all the work, unbeknownst to the company. And then she applied to more jobs and started getting hired at other remote jobs. And as she racked up more and more positions, she divvied out the work and responsibilities to her friends and buddies.

At a certain point when you hit 16 years, hit 16 jobs, you're only one person, Jack. So eventually she just took a commission on the salaries for her buddy's jobs. Ultimately, Yeti's, this one single worker in China employed 53 people working for her as her. She had 53 different people working 16 jobs all under her name. With only one person on that W-2. And this whole scheme brought in $7 million of salary and benefits. Sit down, stand up, and cash that check again. Can you repeat that for us? Jack? Seven million dollars for one person who was really 53 people. Yeties, her side hustle was a hustle hustle.

Her job was an inside job. It was also a fraud. But Yeties, here's the irony about this shocking story. She proved during this fraud that she has talented executive management skills. Yes, she does, because the way Jack and I see it, she was actually running a whole company the entire time. She ran a company with 16 roles, 53 employees, and $7 million in income. I mean, honestly, if Adam Newell. did this, he'd get a check from Andresen Horowitz.

Yeah, he'd literally call it, we work. Because it is we, 53 people who do all the work. Doing the work. This is Nick, this is Jack, and this is Connor. Who is that? Would you like fries with that? Oh, sorry, that's my other job. I'm remote working with 52 others.

Jack, let's in 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 50%. That's a fat tip. T-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.

Our first story, the most anticipated business biography, perhaps ever, arrives today. It's called Elon Musk. The author of this book only does books about generational geniuses. So we had to jump in T-boy style for you. So Elon Musk, the book, it arrives today. But already, it is a bestseller just based on the pre-orders. Now, before we talk about the book, we should talk about the author. His name is Walter Isaacson, and he used to be the head of CNN back in CNN's heyday.

Now, full disclosure, besties, uh, Jack and I have not read this Elon book yet. It, like, just came out after our recording. But we did read two of this author's other books. Yes, we did. For example, Jack just read the book by the same author about Albert Einstein. And Nick, years ago, read the book about Leonardo da Vinci. Well, Isaacson, he isn't your typical biographer. Is he, Jack?

He only writes books about truly generational geniuses. So he's only done a handful of biographies. He's written one on Ben Franklin, one on Steve Jobs, one on Jennifer Duton. He takes years to do the research, and he focuses on the circumstances that conspire to create these brilliant visionaries. So, yet he's that's why this isn't just any old Elon biography. Walt Isaacson has actually been in Elon's office, traveling in Elon's private jet, and talking with him very, very close to him, like a spouse from 2021 to 2023.

He was there during the Twitter takeover. He is literally handed Elon a roll of toilet paper. I'm sure that's true. It may be true. We're not actually sure. But here's why Jack and I want to cover this story. The reviews are in. The excerpts have been leaked.

So here are the highlights from this 688 page Elon Page Turner. The theme we noticed in this book is contradictions. For example, Elon grew up in South Africa. Africa where he was bullied relentlessly. But now, Elon does all the bullying. Or his one passion is saving the planet. But only if Elon gets credit for it. Now, Elon is a business person. He's the wealthiest man in the world. And he runs six different companies that together are worth almost a trillion dollars. And this book reveals the business lessons he's learned in founding these six world-changing companies. For example, Elon calls his business philosophy the algorithm. And just like an

engineer tweaks and questions every character of code within an algorithm. Well, Elon questions every department at every one of his businesses. Even, often, the legal department. Funding secured. And this book also highlights the incredible geopolitical power that Elon has amassed. For example, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Elon SpaceX gave internet access to all the Ukrainians who were in the dark. But when Ukraine wanted to sneak attack Russia, Elon refused.

to give them the signal that they needed to do it. And finally, the book reveals some juicy and unknown personal details about Elon. Jack, get this. Elon's girlfriend, Grimes, was in an Austin, Texas hospital, visiting a surrogate who was pregnant with their secret second child back in 2021. Nick, get this. At the same time, Nick, in the same hospital on the same day, one of Elon's employees was pregnant with Elon's twins.

And Elon didn't tell his girlfriend that he had impregnated that employee with twins and they were in the same hospital. This book reveals the existence of a child whom we didn't know Elon was a father to. He's up to 11 known children. He's beating the Brady bunch. So yet he's, if Jack and I had to sum up a portrait of Elon Musk that this book paints with one word, what word are we going to use, Jack? Contradictory. Because Elon was bullied as a child, but he bullies today. He hates his father, but he acts like his father a lot today.

And he wants to save the world. but he lacks empathy for people who live in it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all us Normies in the world? The most important ingredient for genius is curiosity. So yet he's funny thing. Walter Isaacson, the author, he actually came and spoke to our business school. He spoke at Warden, and he said something interesting that I shared with Jack and we still talk about today.

Somebody in the audience asked a question that was very interesting. They asked Walter Isaacson, what is the one common characteristic that you've seen in all the subjects of your books? What is the one shared characteristic among geniuses? It's curiosity. Curiosity was the trait shared by each of the geniuses that Walter has written about. It was shared by Einstein, Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, and probably he would say Elon shares it too.

Curiosity is the common characteristic of these innovators, and it's the source of their creativity. Because in order to change the world, you must first be curious about it. For our second story, after going bankrupt twice. Twinkies was just acquired for nearly $6 billion. This is the biggest turnaround story in food, at least in the post-antycarb era. Yeties before Jack and I tell you this story, we have to correct a common misconception. Twinkies don't have an infinite shelf life.

No, they don't. Jack, what's the actual expiration date on these things? Twinkies expire after 45 days. You actually got to eat them ASAP unless you fry the Twinkie, in which case it does last forever. It's called the finky, and it's a finkie. Fantastic. But Yeti's, here's the news. After a bidding war with Pepsi and General Mills, smuckers, it's treating itself to buy Hostess for $5.6 billion. It's buying hostess, the Pure Play processed food company that's nearly 100 years old. For a century, these guys been whipping up sweets and they keep selling them. Like Twinkies, hohoes, dinghs, dinghers. Jack, what's a zinger? You name it, we got it. And if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Yeti's the Twinkie. It's like a cupcake that made it with a corn dog. Have you seen the nutritional label now? Can you tell me a story about the nutritional label? No, you tell me, what do you see on this nutritional label? Okay, Jack, let me just read this to you. 62% of your daily recommended amount of sugar. You know what that is? What?

Not recommended. 31 added grams of sugar per serving. And we know you're not just having one serving. But yet is we're not just talking about calories here. We got to talk about the numbers, right, Jack? Because the Twinkie is actually a shocking business turnaround story. Hostas has gone bankrupt twice. Not once.

They went bankrupt twice. So selling now today for $5.6 billion, it's like Frankenstein 2, the sequel. Because back in the 2000s, Twinkie became the biggest victim of the Atkins diet, didn't it, Jack? If you're avoiding carbs, you're avoiding Twinkies. And then later, Twinkie blamed union negotiations for causing them to go bankrupt again. But Twinkie is back and so are snacks, even these yellow sugar logs. Sales for Twinkies have doubled in just the past five years. Justis is selling $1.4 billion worth of these sweet snacks every year.

That's 6 billion grams of sugar. But yet he's Twinkie is actually the best idea since sliced bread. Literally. No joke. Because Wonderbread, the nutritionally hollow sliced bread, that's the same company that invented the Twinkie a century ago. So Hostas has a lot of history. But now Hostas is joining J.M. Smucker.

The peanut butter and jelly pioneer. Smucker, the owner of Jiff's peanut butter, Smuckers Jelly. they now own Hostess for $5.6 billion. That is one expensive, Twinkie. That's also two lifts. So Twinkie could actually have acquired Lyft. Hostas has double the market value of Lyft. That's a shocker.

It's not a car sharing platform. It's a carb sharing platform. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Twinkie? Sorry, breakfast. Snacks have become the most important meal at the day. Gannies, there hasn't been a lot of deals this year. But the top theme in mergers and acquisitions, we've noticed it's snacks, specifically sweet snacks.

M&Ms, Campbell's soup, Unilever, Pepsi, they've all made big snack acquisitions this year. Snackquisition, snack brands are getting bought up right now because we are buying more snacks than ever. And Jack and I have identified the three reasons why. First, the pandemic. When you were working from home, you filled yourself up with a quick snack you could open up. Second is inflation. Snacks, you can eat them at home. They're more affordable than eating meals out. And third is nostalgia.

In stressful times, you crave comfort foods like a throwback Twinkie. Yeti's Wall Street loves snack deals right now because Americans love snacks even more. Sorry, breakfast. Snacks have become the most important meal of the day. For our third and final story, a once every 25 years antitrust megatrial begins today and it's against Google. The biggest risk to Google isn't losing this huge trial. The risk is losing its mindset. Jack, can we sprinkle on some context here to kick things off?

What is the cardinal value of American capitalism? Competition is good. Monoplies are bad. Stick that on a tattoo yet he's 100 years ago. The U.S. government broke up the railroad and oil monopolies. 40 years ago, the U.S. government broke up AT&T's telecom monopoly. And today, the government is trying to bust up its first ever internet monopoly. The United States versus Google begins today.

in a Washington, D.C. courtroom. Biggest thing for the internet since Y2K. Now, the Department of Justice is not going to try to prove that Google has a monopoly in internet search. Google has 90% of internet search. 90% that tastes like a monopoly. That is a monopoly.

But here's the key. Simply being a monopoly is not illegal. The argument the government will make is that Google abuses that monopoly. Exactly. That Google abuses their monopoly. status by making competition with Google impossible. Exhibit A, the government's going to put forward, is that Google pre-installs Google Chrome on all Android phones. Jack's like pointing to some kind of a

chart over here as he does it. Even if you don't like Google internet search yet, it's the default. You kind of have to use it if you're on an Android phone. Exhibit B, Nicholas, Google pays Apple billions every year so that iPhone defaults to Google.com. And the result today, every computer and every smartphone, every page one of the internet begins with Google.com. And that's thanks to those moves made by Google, which the government says are anti-competitive. Because if you're an entrepreneur who has an idea for a better online search engine, it's basically impossible to get noticed, isn't it, Jack? Duck. Docko is the only brave soul who tried.

But funny thing, besties, Jack and I, we feel like we've heard exactly these words before, haven't we? This is the same argument the Department of Justice used against, Microsoft back in 1998. Abusing their monopoly. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Google? The risk to Google isn't losing the case. The risk to Google is losing its mindset.

Yet he's just like Google gets pre-installed in phones today. Microsoft was pre-installed on computers in the 90s. And Microsoft was sued in the 90s for the same reason Google is being sued today. But here's the interesting thing. Microsoft actually won that. monopoly case, but it lost its competitive mindset. Because throughout that four-year case, Microsoft became careful, conservative, and scared because of all that government scrutiny. That was a mindset shift, and that is a top reason why Microsoft missed the smartphone. It was

being too timid. It's like for four years, Microsoft was on a date. Yeah. But the parent was joining the date. The parent's presence was messing with Microsoft's mindset. It would totally mess with your mindset on a date if you had a chaperone. Like you're not going to be 100% yourself. You're going to be a little nervous. Maybe not as charming. And that's the risk for Google, too. Not losing the case, but losing its mindset.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Walter Isaacson's new book about Elon Musk is out today. The one common ingredient among geniuses that he's written about, it's curiosity. The second story is Twinkies. Their parent hostess just sold to Smuckers. for $5.6 billion. Because it's not breakfast, snacks are now the most important meal of the day for Wall Street. And our third and final story is the government's antitrust lawsuit against Google.

It begins today. Experts say it's unlikely Google will lose. The real risk is that Google loses its mindset. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, just a couple of days after an earthquake killed over 2,000 people in Morocco. flooding may have killed 2,000 people in Libya. It's horrible to see these disasters happening wherever they happen in the world.

And second, the FDA just approved new COVID booster shots with the CDC expected to rule on them today. We've completely lost track of which COVID variant we're at. I don't speak Greek, you don't speak Greek. But it's probably recommended that you get protected from them. And finally, Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 at their conference today. The change that's expected? Yes, Jack? The charging cord.

The Europeans are making them have a universal dongle. Donglegate, it continues. It's going to be the same charger as the android. Stick it in your dongle droids. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Joel Soto from lovely Washington, D.C. In the book, Paved Paradise, Henry Graber profiles America's obsession with parking and parking spaces. Yet this, 68% of the land in American cities is for parking.

Two-thirds of American cities use their land to park cars. And that's not all. There are 660 million parking spaces in America, which is exactly how much, Jack? Twice as many spaces as there are Americans. Yeah, they pay a paradise. Literally, they put up a parking lot. If aliens look down on us, Earthlings, they'd probably think the cars were in charge. We humans?

Yes, serve them. Yeties, you look fantastic today, even if you're secretly working 12 jobs at the same time. We're all for giving it 110%. We're not for giving it 53,000%. Three secret jobs shame on you, though. 15 secret jobs shame on me. Impressive. You're secret safe with us.

Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a shout out to Yeti, Seth Samuel, who tweeted at us the story tip about Carvana stock that we used on yesterday's pod. Happy 39th anniversary to Brittany and McKay Boos in Olympia, Washington. And a happy 40th anniversary to my parents, Alison Michael Martel,

on the Upper East Side, celebrating with some takeout sushi. Legendary New Yorkers living to the max. And a happy congratulations to Eric Johnson, who's got his first baby over in Chicago doing baby logistics. Happy birthday to Moro Lios in El Paso, Texas. And Jeremy Bricker celebrating that birthday by traveling to Malaysia, not too shabby. And happy Sweet 16 to Neville,

in Orlando, Florida. And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a t-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Unilever and Nick and I both on stock of Apple. Because it is we 53 people who do all the work. Doing the work.