The Best One Yet - 🏈 “The Mac-12 Conference” — Apple + Pac-12 = Mac-12. Zoom’s anti-zoom policy. Warren Buffett’s best quarter yet

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

The legendary Pac-12 college athletic conference is on the verge of collapse, so we have a crazy solution to propose – Partner with Apple to turn the “Pac-12” into the “Mac-12.” Zoom just announced the most ironic news of the year — Zoom is bringing employees back to the office because Hybrid Work ate Remote Work. And Warren Buffett is 92 years old, but just delivered the best financial quarter of his life — And we also discovered his favorite child: Geico. $AAPL $ZM $BRK.A Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, August 8th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It is a T-Boy. Today's show really is a T-Boy. Oh, this one just feels like the absolute best one we've ever done, Jack. For our first story, Zoom just made the most awkward and ironic announcement of the year.

Zoom is bringing employees back to the Zoom office. Yeah. For our second story, Warren Buffett is 92 years old and just had the best financial quarter of his life. Warren Buffett also just told us who his favorite child is. And our third and final story is the PAC 12. This college athletic conference is about to collapse. But Jack and I think the PAC 12 can actually become the Mac 12. The Mac 12.

Somebody write that down. We got to copyright that, by the way, Jack. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix. We really should trademark that pretty soon, Jack, actually. Hello, is this Mr. Jack or Mr. Nick who I'm speaking with? I'd like to talk to you about your vehicle's extended warranty. Before we begin the phone call, can you just remind me of the first nine digits of your social security number? And then the three-digit code on the back of that credit card.

I'll hold, we've got time. Yet is Robocalls. We all have to deal with them. Turns out 2,000 robocalls are made in this country every single second. But fantastic news for everyone except the robocallers. Yeah, this is wild. The FCC is finally going after those pesky, schemy, annoying robocallors. Get this! The FCC just imposed a record $300 million fine on those robocallers.

What a huge fine for such a big landline. This is the largest telephone fine we've ever heard of. Literally. Yet is. According to the FCC's press release, this was an international network of companies that made 5 billion robocalls to more than 500 million phone numbers in one year. Jack, this global network of phone scammers sounds like a bond villain over there. The 5 billion calls that they made came from one.

million different caller ID numbers. Classic robo call strategy. That way, you can't block their numbers, can you? Oh, and the majority of those calls, they were asking you about your car's extended limited warranty. What do we got to do to get you into this new Honda lease? Oh, Nick, hold up. That's me.

Oh, wait, Jack, Jack, don't pick that up. What? Don't pick it up. Don't. I already pushed, except. Is that Carol from accounting? Sounds like a nice lady, to be honest. Yadies, if you want to see our phone.

history check out at t-boy pot jack and i just whipped it up for you yeah we publicly showed you our robocall history you should check it out there's one dude in the philippines i've just really built a relationship with jane let's in our three stories 15 years before this song two boys from the northeast met in the dawn 3% that's a boy city on your at list if you know you know cause we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show For our first story, Zoom just delivered the most ironic twist of a business story we've seen this year. Zoom is telling its employees to return to the office. Zoom is anti-Zoom right now.

Zoom, the first tech company that made it socially acceptable to give a quarterly presentation from the couch with your cat. Zoom made it so you could show up Monday morning and not have pants and that was okay because no one had pants. Zoom stock was the OG pandemic winner. Zoom, it basically became a COVID cliche. It was the COVID cliche. The stock jumped 700% in 2020 to a ridiculously high all-time high. Yeah. And since then, Jack?

It's fallen by 90%. The stock today is lower than it was before the pandemic began. Zoom has lost $100 billion in market value since you first got a vaccination. But Zoom has a solution to fixing Zoom, the company. Yes, it does. And it's a pretty fascinating solution, isn't it, Jack? Zoom is ordering its employees to return to the office, to stop zooming into work. That's the news, Yeties.

All Zoom employees within a 50-mile radius of a Zoom office must come into that office at least twice a week. No more zooming into work. Zoom is work from now on. It is literally the most ironic story we have seen the entire year, Yetis. Apparently, a fully zooming workforce couldn't help Zoom to Zoom anymore. Zoom, Zoom, Mazda. Zoom's business. depends on remote work, and yet they're limiting remote work.

They're doing a full 180 at Zoom on Zoom. Now, Yetis, this does bring up a bigger story, which is that hybrid work has officially beaten remote work. Yep, that's the early takeaway here, Yeties, because Zoom's PR team basically said that when they announced this news yesterday. Zoom said this yesterday. Hybrid is the most effective choice for Zoom. In fact, Zoom specifically cited the need to innovate in person.

as there a reason for bringing employees back to the office. Yeah, apparently a fully zooming workforce couldn't help Zoom Zoom anymore. It was unzoomable over at Zoom. And Nick and I agree, because Zoom hasn't had a breakout product since Zoom. And Jack and I went through the earnings report. Zoom's innovation has been MIA year after year now. Now, back in 2020, we did a story on this pod about a new Zoom product. Yes, we did the new Zoom hardware monitor.

And Jack, how is that new Zoom hardware monitor doing? It was a monitor built in with a camera just for Zoom calls, like over here and then you do work over here. I haven't heard a thing about that monitor. We haven't covered it in two years yet. That kind of says the whole story right there. Now, overall, this story reflects the reality that most companies are doing some kind of a return to office pause.

BlackRock and finance, Amazon and tech, even the federal government is bringing people back from fully remote work right now. But we're not here to debate work from office versus work from home. In fact, Jack and I think that is besides the point. Instead, we have a hilarious and amazing takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Zoom in the conference room right now? The CEO should be the ultimate power user. Yet he's a good CEO uses the product.

But a great CEO preaches the product. Even when it's not practical, realistic, or even possible, the CEO uses the product beyond a reasonable vow. Totally beyond reason. For example, Airbnb CEO, he spent a year living and working from Airbnb's this year. Was he as productive working from some random Airbnb? Probably not. But did it illustrate the potential of Airbnb?

Absolutely, yes. Yet, the Zoom CEO may be right. Maybe the company's innovation has suffered in a fully remote situation. But it probably would have benefited Zoom long term if they'd made 100% remote work option. Because you're not going to do the Atkins diet if you learn that Dr. Atkins is a big sourdough bread guy. And you're not going to buy an electric car if you hear the CEO is driving a gas guzzler on the weekends. It's simply good marketing if a company practices what it preaches and preaches what it sells. And that is why the CEO should be the ultimate power user.

And it's why Zoom should probably be more comfortable with Zooming. For our second story, at 92 years old, Warren Buffett just had. his best quarter ever. But even Warren has a weakness, and his weakness is the Geico. Warren Buffett. Yet he's, his birthday's coming up in three weeks, but Warren Buffett was actually born during the Great Depression. Warren Buffett was born when Babe Ruth was still hitting home runs for the Yankees. Warren Buffett was born before KFC was a company. But yet he's back when Warren was 40 years old. 52 years ago, he founded Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway, the investment confirm that he still runs to this very day. Since that day, he has signed his name at the end of

160 quarterly earnings reports. But yet he's the latest earnings report from Berkshire Hathaway was their best one yet, truly. Berkshire just announced on Saturday $36 billion in quarterly profits. That's a record. And a big reason why? Well, it's actually pretty simple. Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio of stocks went up. Berkshire Hathaway owns $175 billion of Apple stock. Like, they own $175 billion just of Apple. And how's Apple doing right now, Jack? And just that one company is up 40% this year, which in turn has shot Berkshire stock up big this year too.

Yeties, get this. Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's investment firm, is now the eighth most valuable company in America. It's worth $800 billion. That's more than Tesla. That's more than Walmart. That's more than J.P. Morgan Chase. Don't even get us started on the number of those.

But the other highlight for this 92-year-old man from Omaha. Yes, Jack. It stems from a decision he made when he was 21 years old, and that decision was Geico. Yet is this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Warren Buffett is the man who pulls the strings over at Geico, the insurance company. In 1951, when Babe Ruth was retired, and this 92-year-old was only 21 years old, Warren Buffett fell in love with Guy Co. In fact, this was wild. Jack and I love this.

Warren Buffett once called Geico, the stock I love. the most. When he was 21, he said that. So when he was CEO, Berkshire Hathaway years later, he invested in Guyco and eventually bought the whole company outright. Okay, then Warren Buffett went even further. Warren Buffett then called Guyco his favorite child. Oh, and by the way, this guy has kids. Like real human kids. He has actual human people. But Guyco is his favorite child because it's been Berkshire Hathaway's consistent profit puppy for decades. Yet he's in the last quarter, one third of Berkshire Hathaway's operating profit came from one industry and one industry only. Insurance. Insurance.

Guyco brings in $40 billion a year in revenue, which is about the same amount of revenue as Coca-Cola. You don't have to be a Neanderthal and you don't have to be an Australian reptile to recognize why Warren Buffett loves Guyco. That's why Warren loves Guyco. That's why it's baby. But Warren Buffett's baby also has a funny problem right now, doesn't it, Jack? A bit of a growth problem. Yeah, a bit of a growth problem. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at GEICO. The most important place to be in marketing is top of mind. Here's the problem facing GEICO. Last year, the number of GEICO auto insurance policies actually fell by nearly 3 million. The reason GEICO lost nearly 3 million customers,

less Gecko. That's why. Less Gecko. It looks like we're experiencing a negative ROG, aren't we, Jack? A negative return on Gecko. And here's why besties. Back in 2021 and 22, GEICO spent less money on TV ads. So there were less Gecko commercials. As a result, when 2.7 million people said, I need car insurance, they didn't call GEICO. And they didn't save up to 15% on their car insurance, and they didn't do it at 15 minutes or less. This one statistic shows the importance of marketing and advertising. Without it, you're not top of customers' minds. And if you're not top of mind,

then somebody else is. Like flow from Progressive. That is why in marketing, the most important place to be is top of mind. For our third and final story, the PAC 12 athletic conference is getting abandoned. It's on the brink of collapse. It's a sad story. But the one thing the PAC 12 still has is Big Tech alumni.

And the one solution to the PAC 12 could be the MAC 12. The Mac 12. But Yeties, we got to sprinkle on a little context here. First, when our parents were grown up, the PAC 12, it does. dominated basketball. UCLA won 10 out of 12 national championships in the 60s and 70s. Then when Jack and I were growing up, the PAC 12 dominated football. USC, Reggie Bush, Matt Liner, a couple of national championships in the 2000s. For 100 years, the PAC 12 was the dominant overall conference in college sports and the

numbers prove it. The PAC 12 has won 553 national championships across all the sports. The second best conference, 200. The PAC 12 is the Ivy League of college athletes. Hey, whoa, hold your horses over there, Nicholas. But yeties, today, the iconic Pac-12 athletic conference is suddenly on the brink of collapse. It started last year when UCLA and USC ditched the Pac-12 to join the Midwest Big Ten. And then it got worse last week when six more teams ditched the Pack-12. 12 and joined other leagues instead. The Pac-12 is like Woody right now in Toy Story when Buzz arrived. Totally. You're making me sad here, Jack.

It's been abandoned by the shinier, newer thing. I'm going to start crying on my eye black, man. And that shinier thing is money. The draw of big TV money from the Big Ten and the SEC is no match for the history and tradition of the Pac-12. So yet, he's Jack and I were looking at this story, and we realized there is a question right now and a very important question. going to happen to the four remaining universities that are still in the pack 12?

Is there any kind of value that can still be salvaged from the four remaining schools out of 12? Yeties, the pack 12 is now the pack four. We got Jack? There's just Cal Berkeley, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State. If ever there were a league to go vegan, this would be the league that goes vegan, Jack. Nick, these four schools in the northern west coast, that's not enough to cobble together in an athletic conference. Four is just not enough.

Unless... Unless... Unless... Guess who happens to be rumored to be interested in the PAC 12 streaming rights? None other than Apple. Yeah, that Apple. And another thing these schools have? Their alumni base is awash with big tech CEOs.

Yeah, sure. Stanford produced Tiger Woods, Katie Ledekie, John Elway, and Christian McCaffrey over on the playing fields. But Stanford also produced Steve Jobs, Reed Hastings, Elon Musk, Evan Spiegel. over in the boardrooms. Yeties, we're talking about Google, Apple, Tesla, Snapchat, Netflix, LinkedIn. Yeah, Stanford and Cal, those are their feeder schools. We think the PAC 12 should be the first conference to truly embrace tech and make their techie

alumni very happy. And Jack and I have actually whipped up a whole plan on how they could do it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are competing over in college sports? The PAC 12 should become the Mac 12. Yeties, every streamer right now is competing to get the rights to the big sports leagues. But those big sports leagues, they have cable first deals and their deals are crazy expensive. Okay, so here's what we're thinking. Instead, these four tech-savvy West Coast schools should be the first ones to go streaming first.

The PAC 12 should sell their TV rights to Apple and then rename themselves the Mac 12. The Mac 12. Look, Apple just did a really similar thing by buying the rights to Apple. Major League Soccer. Apple has transformed Major League soccer. They did. Apple bought low by investing in a smaller Pro Sports League at a cheap price. Then Apple uplifted the MLS by enticing Lionel Messi to come play there. Apple could use the same strategy with the PAC 12. Be the one conference that's digital first, easy to watch. Become the only conference where players in schools have equity upside in a TV streaming deal. The PAC 12 seems destined to collapse right now. Unless it's a

It joins with Apple to become the Mac 12. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Zoom's anti-Zoom work from the office two days a week policy sends a bad message to the market. Because the CEO should be the ultimate power user. For our second story, Berkshire Hathaway had its best quarter ever, even though Guyco is struggling. Because the most important place to be in marketing is top of mind.

And our third and final story. Eight of the Pack 12 schools have left the Pack 12. it seems destined to collapse. So the PAC 12 should sell its TV rights to Apple and become the Mac 12. But this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, for the first time since the AIDS outbreak 40 years ago, the Red Cross is ending its ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men.

Instead, the risk of AIDS will be assessed for all potential donors. And second, Tesla's chief financial officer who Elon calls the master, of coin is leaving the company right before the cyber truck. Maybe now he has time to referee the cage match between Zuck and Elon, if that ever happens. And finally, a mint condition first generation iPod just sold for $29,000. If you have a first edition Game Boy from 1996, we'd like a word with you. A.B. A.A.B.A.B. Up down, up down.

We'd blown into the cassette. I was blown on it. I was blown into the key set. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Elise Rickita from lovely McKinney, Texas. King Charles is a big fan of sustainable innovation. And King Charles is also a fan of really expensive cars. So, His Majesty has a custom vintage Aston Martin car that runs on leftover wine and cheese. No joke. They throw wine and cheese into this thing. True story. The car runs on bioethanol for 51 years now. That's been its fuel. The staff says that the car smells like the olive guard.

But the emissions are not endless. Yeties, you look fantastic for Teaboy Tuesday. And remember, if you want to help grow the pod, turn to the buddy next to you and just say, can I talk to you about your Suzuki's extended warranty? Oh, you blocked my number? Cute cab. Jack and I will call you on a different number tomorrow.

Before we go, congratulations to Yeti Danny Fritz, who just graduated at the age of 38 and is getting his CFA. And a big congratulations to JNCO, who is an OG market snacker that just got a new job in New York City. And Dev Smolensky, congratulations on the new book coming out today called Brain On to optimize your brain. Congrats to the Zodax team in Los Angeles for a job well done. And a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Jonah Faye Hurwitz, who is branding Brooklyn over in Brooklyn. Happy birthday to Jim Saliba in San Jose. And Veydon Raul, happy birthday down the street in San Francisco. And Santoshimona, happy birthday near Pier 39 in San Francisco.

And happy birthday to Jamie Difflip, who's celebrating that birthday by watching their favorite band ever. Jimmy Eat World. Great choice. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway, and Nick and I both on stock of Airbnb and Apple. Is that Carol from accounting? Sounds like a nice lady, to be honest.