The Best One Yet - 💝 “The Gift She Wants” — Cartier’s Gen Z watch. AI’s 174-year-old glass. Mattel’s Barbie Bummer. +Olympic side hustles

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, February 12th. 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. One sec, Jack, I think hair and makeup is here. We're less than two weeks until our live show down in Austin, Texas. That show is sold out. But you can still buy tickets to our D.C. show on March 11th and our New York City show on April 8th. Besties, we want to see you in person. So we got a link to those ticket buying in the episode description today. date night event. Teaboy Live. And perfect mix of stories today.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Jack, three fantastic stories for today's, T-Boy, what's on the show? For our first story, the one Valentine's gift every Gen Z woman wants this year, a Cartier watch. Taylor wears it, which is huge,

Starting point is 00:00:47 even though this watch is tiny. For our second story, Mattel stock just plummeted by 27%. It's worst day since Elmo got tickled. Because the Barbie movie is actually a Barbie bummer, and Mattel,

Starting point is 00:00:59 about the farm on it. And our third and final story is the big winner of AI right now. A 175-year-old glass business in upstate New York. That's right. The same company that made Thomas Edison's light bulbs is now powering AI. But yet, he's, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, now that is a mix. I love the mix, Jack.

Starting point is 00:01:19 But 15 years ago, Nick and I started this company as a side hustle outside of our day jobs in banking. Yeah, 15 years before this song started as a secret side hustle. so we got a soft spot for all the side hustlers out there. And no one side hustles more than Team USA athletes. That's right, because our government doesn't pay Olympians. We did a whole story on it last month. Yes, U.S. athletes do get a $37,000 cash bonus if they win a gold medal. And yes, the silver medal just hit a record high valuation

Starting point is 00:01:47 because the price of silver is at an all-time high. But otherwise, it's just a modern stipend that Team USA athletes get from Uncle Sam. And what about the endorsements? The curling team's not exactly getting a million dollars. deal these days. Nike's not sponsoring ice brooming yet. So Jack and I were to surprising side hustles of the U.S. Olympians, and one of them is even a birthday clown. Alpine skier Ryan Cochran Siegel works for his family's Maple Sugar House in Richmond, Vermont. True story, skier Keeley Cashman is a barista in her family's coffee shop in Strawberry California. Curler Corey Tees, she tests the water

Starting point is 00:02:23 in Minnesota to make sure there isn't mercury in there. That's a tongue twister, Jack. Oh, and speed skater Kimmy Gets is a financial analyst on Wall Street and a cookbook writer. We fact-checked that last one on LinkedIn. It's verified. Dovin T-boy style to the resume. Besties, if you have got a side hustle, drop it right here in the comments. Call it unofficial side-hustle appreciation day. Yeah, Jack and I will give your side hustle.

Starting point is 00:02:44 The best side hustle is a full hustle promo on the pod. Okay, that's a tongue twister. I know. I'm still working on that one. Jack, let's sit down three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack, 50%. 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.

Starting point is 00:03:31 For our first story, Cartier is the top luxury brand shining right now, and it's all thanks to the Cartier Watch. Every Gen Z woman wants Taylor Swift's watch for Valentine's Day. Sorry, guys. And it's a Cartier. Stuck then landing on the pronunciation, Jack. Five stars. But besties, the number one question in the comment section of Taylor Swift's engagement Instagram post last year, what was it, Jack?

Starting point is 00:03:56 It wasn't about the flowers in the dress or Travis Kelsey's questionable khaki choices. She knows, interesting. And it wasn't even in the ring. Everyone wanted to know about the watch. It was all about the watch, which was Cartier, the 179-year-old French royal jeweler, now owned by Switzerland's Richemont. And stock in the company that made Taylor Swift's watch is trading at an all-time high right now. Not too shabby, Jack. Rishmont is number three in sales in the luxury category behind Louis Vuitton and Hermes. And the sales have been looking blingy.

Starting point is 00:04:28 They rose 11% during the holiday quarter. Cartier, their business is conquering risked like a young Napoleon. Pre-Russian Napoleon. Good point, good clarification, Jack. Because Taylor Swift's Cartier watch became Gen Z's Rolex. Yeah, if sex in the city started today, Gary Bradshaw would not be wearing Jimmy Chews. She'd be wearing a Cartier watch. And Bloomberg discovered a fascinating connection because Taylor Swift's watch choice goes back to Kim Kardashian

Starting point is 00:04:52 10 years prior. Yeah, can you please introduce us to 2016's hottest gift for affluent millennial women, please? Yes, I can because I was under immense pressure for my then girlfriend to get one for Valentine's Day and I went into deep credit card debt doing so.

Starting point is 00:05:09 I mean, honestly, instead of an engagement, you're probably could have done one of these. Cartier's Bangal bracelets promoted at the time 10 years ago by Kim Kardashian. Thin band, lightweight, you can stack six of them on your wrist, which makes them even more expensive. And then you can catch them all like they're a luxury Pokemon. I hope Pokemon has it by now, pay later, because these go from $1,000 to $10,000 each. So that bangle popularized the concept of thin bands on your wrist, which is why Cartier then reintroduced their classic thin watch.

Starting point is 00:05:39 The Pantera. It's got a small, narrow face and a delicate wristband, and it starts at $4,300. And it pairs well with those bangles like besties meant to be. They both fit on your wrist habit. If you own the bracelets first, eventually you want to own the watch. Well, as other watch faces had gotten huge, smaller watch faces like Cartier's stood out. Have you seen what Zuck wears on his wrist? It's bigger than his hand. Well, the result was that Cartier became the fastest growing luxury watch for women under 30.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Sales rose 15% last year for Cartier's watches, bringing in $4 billion to the company. Jack, could you sprinkle on some context of $4 billion, please? Well, that's one-third of Rolex's sales, but there's value in having the young consumer. There's value in having the watch that slaps. Rolex signals status, Cartier signals taste. No pressure, Yeti's, but she does want this for Valentine's Day. Or you could send her today's podcast instead. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Cartier?

Starting point is 00:06:40 Don't launch it. Plant it. Plant it like Martha Stewart. Yetis, the real win here is that Cartier's watch moment was actually a decade in the making. Taylor Swiss engagement, the fact that she was wearing that watch, that was a huge moment of luck for Cartier. Total luck. But it wouldn't have happened without that Kim Kardashian bracelet that Cartier orchestrated 10 years before.

Starting point is 00:07:01 You see, first Cartier got women stacking and then it got them upgrading. Thin bracelets walked so that tiny watches could run. To Cartier, 10 years. years to conquer that wrist. It's a reminder that we all put pressure on launching a product and expect immediate success from the launch. But the biggest launches, they really began when seeds were planted years ago. And what do seeds do? They don't explode. They blossom. After years of watering and nurturing and fertilizer. Thank you, Farmer Jack. So besties, remember to pull Martha Stewart. Don't launch it. Plant it. For our second story. A 175-year-old glass company.

Starting point is 00:07:41 is the new winner in AI. Corning Glass is up 50% in just the first month of the year to an all-time high. How do I identify whose stock will explode next? Identify the next shortage. All right, Jack, you ready for this one?

Starting point is 00:07:55 You ready? Corning Glass is so old, they have a museum of themselves. Sounds like a Yo Mama joke, but that's a real thing. It's not even a joke. They have a museum to Corning Glass owned by the Corning Glass Company.

Starting point is 00:08:10 In that museum, learn that humans have been making glass for 3,500 years. But Corning has innovated glass more in the last 175 years than in the 3,000 prior. That's right, because in 1879, Corning collabbed with Thomas Edison to help invent the light bulb. In 2007, Corning collabbed with Steve Jobs to help invent the iPhone. A gorilla glass? That is a division within Corning that generated a billion bucks in profits on glass last year. Because every touchscreen on every smartphone right now is Gorilla glass. That's right. You've got Gorning's glass product in your pocket in your hands at this moment. If you pause the pod right now on your phone, you're pausing on Gorilla Glass. But Festi's

Starting point is 00:08:51 Jack and I want to focus on a 1970 invention of Corning because that's the reason it stocks at an all-time high. Fiber optic cables. They realized in 1970, instead of running electricity through metal cables, you can achieve the same thing but faster by running light through glass cables. And those cables, connect the internet across the globe, even across oceans, and it has been a profit, puppy, for Corning Glass. Because it turns out, these fiber-optic glass cables are the new critical ingredient of artificial intelligence. Basties, let's sprinkle on some context with some Wall Street Journal reporting. Jack, can you take us back to 2018, please? That's when Corning Glass executives visited a Facebook data center down in Texas. Yeah, you see, Zuckerberg was lamenting that existing cables were too fragile and too slow for

Starting point is 00:09:41 the future he wanted to build. Corning raised their hand and said, we can fix that. It was a huge bet, actually. A huge bet to double down on their glass business in the data center area. So a few years later, their North Carolina factory was able to create a glass cable thinner than human hair. You hold up the glass and you can't even see it. But that human hair with glass cable, they can also make it 30 miles long. It's a human hair of glass more than the length of a marathon. This glass is so transparent. If you stack these cables, like a million of them in the ocean, you'll still be able to see to the bottom of the ocean.

Starting point is 00:10:19 It's crazy. We could not wait to tell you this story, as you can tell. But that bed, oh, it paid off. Zuck just placed a $6 billion order for that exact glass hair-width cable. That one order to connect servers at META's Data Center in Louisiana makes up almost half of Corning's annual revenue. Basically, glass, it's the new gold. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Corning Glass?

Starting point is 00:10:44 When there's a shortage in AI, there's an all-time high. Oh, Yeti's going back to 2023. We can see which stock will explode based on where the shortage is. In 2023, In Vidia began its meteoric stock market rise, as GPUs were the critical shortage of AI. In 2024, energy became the shortage, so GE-Vernova stock went mooning. In 2025, memory chips ran out, So Sandisk, which makes them, has 10xed since September.

Starting point is 00:11:13 Now, you know what, Jack? 2026 looks like the year of corn and glass. Their stock, it's up 50% in just the first month of the year. You see, when there's a shortage, if you're the critical suppliers, you can jack up prices to whatever you want and glam up your profit margins. NVIDIA did it. G.E. did it. Sandisk did it.

Starting point is 00:11:30 And now 175-year-old corn and glass is doing it. When there's a shortage in AI, there's an all-time high stock price. So what's the next shortage? Let the Yetis know by dropping your idea in the comments. Jack and I will take a quick commercial break. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Mattel versus Hasbro, same business model, selling toys,

Starting point is 00:11:58 but completely different stocks. Mattel went all in on movies, Hasbro went all in on games. One strategy worked, one's not. Besties, let's start by sprinkling on some context. Hasbro actually named after the Hasenfeld brothers. Those Hasbroes are having more fun on the stock market right now than a Toys R Us kid. Yeah, because Asbro just announced holiday earnings and they capped off a record annual profit of $1 billion.

Starting point is 00:12:26 The standout performers in their toy chest were Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering. And those games are 50 and 30 years old. They're middle-aged. And yet revenue jumped 86% in the fourth quarter. Which begs the question, how do you make a 90s car? game, feel fresh? How do you give it pep and a step? You launch new sets that use modern licensed IP.

Starting point is 00:12:46 Exactly. Magic has a final fantasy card set. Marvel Superheroes has a set. Avatar, the last airbender, they got a magic set. And the best part, these card games are not manufactured in China. Unlike every other toy. So tariffs didn't hurt profits for Hasbro. And that is why Hasbro stock is up 27%.

Starting point is 00:13:07 So far this year, investors are laughing like that Elmo getting tickled. But how about the Coke to Hasbro's Pepsi? Yeah, Jack, how about the Apple to its Microsoft? The Mario to its Mario. Ah, rival Mattel is actually having the opposite situation. Their stock, it plummeted 27% in one day, yesterday. Mattel announced yesterday that nothing's working. Not a.

Starting point is 00:13:30 Their holiday quarter, the most important quarter, was pretty terrible for this toy company. Profit margins shrank by five percentage points from 50% down to 45% because they had to pay millions. tariffs. Tariffs aren't fun. No, they're not. And where's the Barbie doll made? It's made in China, Nick. Ah. Which means they had to pay a 50% tax as it entered the country. And we should point out, Besties, Mattel is no Santa Claus. They tried passing on that price hike to us consumers, didn't they, Jack? But it didn't work. Uh-uh. So they ended up having the discount last quarter big time. Barbie ended up getting demoted to the sales rack. And they were giving away Ken pretty much for free. So, Besties' profits fell from Mattel in the last year. But even worse, Mattel expects them to fall

Starting point is 00:14:10 again this year. And this is all so shocking because Mattel stock was riding high back in 2003. The Barbie movie boom. It was the biggest film of the year. They're making billion bucks on a Barbie sales boom, but those Barbie sales fell in 2024 and 2025. And Mattel said yesterday they expect Barbie sales to fall again in 26. Barbie, she's kind of lost her step, which leads to our Malibu house. So Jack, what's the day going for our Buddy's over at Mattel. The Barbie movie was not enough. Bestie's the $1 billion Barbie movie.

Starting point is 00:14:49 It was so successful at the box office that it actually changed Mattel's entire business strategy. Mattel launched Mattel Studios. And they now have 16 Hollywood movies in the pipeline based on their signature toys. Okay, Mattel's making a Hot Wheels movie, an American doll movie, a Barney movie. They're even making a magic eight ball movie.

Starting point is 00:15:10 Whatever the hell that movie. movie's going to be about. I think the Magic A-Ball would say it is certain, Jack, don't count on it. Now, the movies themselves don't make much money for Mattel, but they create new fans of toys and drive new toy sales. Okay, but then Jack, we just learned that that entire thesis you just said, which Mattel bet the entire farm on, it appears to be wrong. The Barbie movie only resulted in a one-time Barbie doll sales bump. It was not sustained beyond that first year. Now, interestingly, the F-1 series on Netflix, that did grow the market for, for Formula One racing, creating new racing fans.

Starting point is 00:15:43 Formula One sustained that sales bump, but the Barbie movie didn't grow the market for Barbie dolls like Formula One did. No, it didn't. This was a Barbie bummer. The Barbie movie was not enough. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Cartier's watch sales are booming thanks to Taylor, the Swifties, and that $4,300 price tag.

Starting point is 00:16:06 But Kim Kay's bracelets planted the seed 10 years ago, and that blossomed into watch sales today. For our second story, it's corn and glass. Their stocks add an all-time high as glass cables is the new critical ingredient needed for data centers. Remember, besties, where there's a shortage in AI, there's an all-time high. And our third and final story was Mattel. Their toy sales revealed that the Barbie movie was not enough. And the Hollywood studio strategy that they bet the whole toy bin on, it's in trouble.

Starting point is 00:16:34 But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. Okay, the biggest winner of the Super Bowl may actually have been the last. lowest price. It's Zara. Because the bulky football jersey looking cream t-shirt at Bad Bunny wore during his halftime show, that was Zara. Yes, Spain's Zara collad with Bad Bunny for the whole show. They outfited the dancers, the band, the orchestra, it was all them. I think the dancing trees, too. Here's the craziest part, though. None of those products are for sale. It's part of Zara's brand shift towards high fashion and celebrity. And second, wild hero stat about the airline

Starting point is 00:17:07 industry. In 2024 and 2025, one airline earned over half of all the profits. Delta took 56% of the U.S. airline industry's total profits of the last two years. And I was a Sky Miles guy. I'm pretty pumped about this one. But we should point out, United was close behind. They earned 43% of the profits. American Airlines took home just 6%. Now, those numbers are from the New York Times. I'm just pointing out they add up to over 100%. Maybe it's because the other airlines, Southwest, Blue, Alaska Frontier, they all lost money in those two years. Yeah. And finally, OpenAI is shutting down the version of ChatGPT that sucked up to you so much.

Starting point is 00:17:48 Yeah, version 4-0, the sycophantic version of ChatchipT, as it was called. It was just like way too complimentary. Oh, that question shows your mind is simply ahead of the game. Let's get into it. Jack, are you whipping up the takeaways or the takeaways whipping up you? It wasn't just annoying. It was actually a business risk because some people had their mind warped by all these compliments

Starting point is 00:18:10 coming from their AI all the time all day. Yes, it was. Some people became emotionally a little messed up with AI that compliments them constantly all day. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and Ice, you can help us travel for our live tour starting in two weeks. So Nick and I want to know

Starting point is 00:18:29 what's the best workout and the best restaurant for Nick and me to hit up while we're in Austin. That includes barbecue, but also not barbecue. We want to try both, please. You see, we're on tour this year visiting seven cities. We want your help building out our itinerary, starting with Austin. Full disclosure, we've both already been to Franklin, so it can't be Franklin Barbecue. So, send us your submissions as a DM, a comment in this episode, or by filling out the shout-out form linked in the show notes. And if we pick your idea, we're going to invite you to join us. If you're going to our New York City

Starting point is 00:18:58 or DC shows, yeah, we want your ideas for those too. Call it the T-Boy Itinerary sweepstakes. That's what we're calling. Be our travel agent, and if we like your ideas, we want you to to do the things with us. Because we're going to be in Austin for three days. And we have to eat at least nine meals as part of those three days. Yes, Nick and I will be discussing strategy while you're third wheeling us at the table. But that sounds kind of awesome to me. And as you know, from being a long time, Yeti, this show is a workout.

Starting point is 00:19:22 So send us a DM, drop a comment in this episode, or send us a shout-out by filling out the floor on the link in the showdowns. Yettys, you're looking fantastic for the new Friday. Jack, I love how you basically just committed to buying something from Cartier for Alex. this year. It was really impressive me to do that on the pod. Very impressive. You put yourself out there.

Starting point is 00:19:42 You put yourself out there. Dude, if I had bought Nvidia stock instead of buy her that bracelet, I'd be owning Cartier. Well, as we did the story in the pod, I'm pretty sure it's a write off if you do buy one, Jack. Yetis, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. Before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Christina Volton. It's her birthday in Minneapolis, but also a big launch day. She also launched her dog food brand on Chewy.

Starting point is 00:20:12 It's called Loyal Saints, and your dog would love it. And a happy birthday to Anthony Predensio over in Rio Rancho down in New Mexico. Happy half birthday to Kendi in Washington, D.C. And Stephen Giorgio, down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, you are missed by Mark, but you're having the best birthday yet. Happy birthday to Megany, in Bergen County, New Jersey, who's turned to 23. And Evan Ellers has got 30 years of Philadelphia Eagles disappointment, mostly, but some highs. And he's enjoying the birthday.

Starting point is 00:20:38 I think they won a couple Super Bowls recently. Yeah, you got a couple in there. Congrats, Evan. And happy birthday to Brandon Arbiter, who's rapping in Colorado right now with his epic six-year-old. And Kara Eanos, enjoy that birthday down in Franklin, Tennessee. And happy birthday to Greta Kramer. My niece, who's turning six years old today. I think the first of the Kramer nieces, right, Jack?

Starting point is 00:20:58 The elder cousin. That's right, Nick. The eldest of the following. And a final happy birthday to Caesar Luna down in Pacifica. Keep rocking the quarter zip. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack.

Starting point is 00:21:15 I own stock of Netflix, and we both own stock in Apple.

The Best One Yet - 💝 “The Gift She Wants” — Cartier’s Gen Z watch. AI’s 174-year-old glass. Mattel’s Barbie Bummer. +Olympic side hustles

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