The Best One Yet - 🚽 “The monster in your sink” – InSinkErator’s $3B sink. Chipotle’s love-flation. Microsoft’s video game duty.

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Remember when we told you 2 out of 3 acquisitions fail? Well we found one that didn’t: Insinkerator and Whirlpool. Chipotle stock just hit an all-time high because they raised prices on your burrito… but you ate it anyway (we call it “Love-flation”). And Microsoft was about to make the biggest deal in its entire history for video games… but then someone pulled the power cord.$WHR $CMG $MSFT $ATVIWant 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 YoutubeLearn 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 Thursday, the new Friday, April 27th, and today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-Blest. Stocks are down this week, though, because of that bank news that we told you about yesterday. First Republic Bank, Jack, what might First Republic Bank need right now? People keep withdrawing money from that bank? That bank may need a government bailout. Yiddies, we will keep you updated on the First Republic Bank situation. In the meantime, Jack, what's our first story for the pot? Earlier this week, we told you that a shocking, two-year-old. Two out of three acquisitions failed. So Jack and I found the one acquisition that succeeded.

And Jack, what is that acquisition? Insincorator. It's Insincorator. For our second story, Chipotle stock jumped 13% yesterday because it's officially burrito season. And when you order extra guac, you're paying extra extra for the extra guac. And our third and final story is Microsoft. Their biggest deal ever just got blocked by the Brits. This is the biggest drama in the video game industry since the cheat code.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, A, B, A, B, ABA. If you know, you know. When Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix. Just a fantastic mix. I love this mix for the new Friday. It's Thursday, the new Friday, so we have an important and great message for you. And here's the message. Here it is, here it is. Eat more ice cream. A new study suggests that eating ice cream may be good for your health.

Okay, Yeti, stick your face. and whatever pint you got in the freezer, a cone a day keeps the doctor away. According to a new study from Harvard University, yeah, that Harvard, there is a mysterious health benefit that they're finding when people eat more ice cream. Here are the results.

Apparently diabetics who ate half a cup of ice cream every single day ended up with fewer heart problems. We repeat, according to a Harvard University medical study, ice cream may help your heart. Okay, Jack, who funded this study? Was it Ben or? was it Jerry. Forget keto yaddies. I'm doing cookie dough diet. Juice cleanse. Sign us up for the gelato cleanse. Now, Nick, I'm no medical doctor. No, you're not, technically. But I can tell you that

ice cream makes me happy. Yes, and happiness comes from the heart. Ipso facto, this study is just basic an ad. Jack, are we talking about the Hagendaz diet here? You want more scientific proof that ice cream's good for your heart? Jack, can you drop a cherry on top for us over there? According to a Tufts University study, ice cream is better for you than many cereals are. What we're saying is that cookie dough beats, uh, what'd you say, Chuck? Cookie dough beats Kookey, Chris. There we go. Yetis, the average American devour 23 pounds of ice cream every single year.

But based on this science, maybe it should be 24 pounds. Ice cream, you scream, we all scream. For prescription ice cream. It's the dairy queen diet. Jack, let's in our three stories. 15 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 It's 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 Start the show For our first story World Pool is the proud new owner of Insincorator And early data shows that Insincorator is among the one out three acquisitions that doesn't fail.

Jack, can we talk about the all-star lineup of appliances in a home? There is a lineup here. Refrigerators, dishwashers, and laundry machines. When those were invented, they were like literally game changers. It turned your home into a machine, literally life-changing. But yet he's honestly, you haven't lived unless you have had an insincorator. The insincorator. It was invented in 1927, and it dominates the market for U.S. garbage disposal.

Get this 70% of garbage disposal. in America? Yeah, they're insincorators. This is a machine that sits in the bottom of the drain in your sink, and it's got a three-quarter horsepower motor, and then a bunch of really sharp, scary teeth that grind the hell out of whatever comes down there. You maybe haven't seen the Insincorator, but you have heard the Insincorator.

It's like a Boeing plane got stuck in your pipes. You feel like you should call someone. And for nearly 100 years, this Made in USA Insincorator is the gold standard for eating up your table scraps and shooting it down the drain. You can play the Insincorator Challenge. Try to stick a cheese steak down there. It'll take it.

It'll do it. Oh, for sure. It'll do just about anything. But funny thing, Jack and I should, we should mention since we jumped in T-boy style to this one. So I was talking to Nick about the incinerator before the story. I've had one since childhood. Nick didn't have one. And he wasn't even aware of what they were because they were banned in New York City until

1997. Jack, I did not see my first Encyclator until I was 18. It was, I heard this, I was like, what was that? I was like, I thought we should call the police. And they're like, no, no, no, that's the drain. I don't think so, man. You're like that's not how a drain says. It sounds like someone's dying in there.

I'm calling SOS. We still haven't figured out why they were banned in New York City. Was it a mob thing, a mafia thing? You know, potentially it was because someone could stick a hand down there if they didn't like somebody, but, um, Gabagool. The Gabagool. But yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Last year, Insincorator was acquired by Whirlpool for $3 billion.

That one lift. And now with their latest earnings report, we have some results on how that's going. Yes, we do. World Pool appliances just announced yesterday that it has successfully integrated the Insincorator into its appliance empire. Now, Yeti, 70% of garbage disposals are insincorators. And most Insincorator owners replace their insincorator when it gets old. Okay. And that is where Whirlpools actually. Acquisition strategy is coming in, isn't it, Jack?

It's the art of the cross-self. It's the art of the cross-self. For example, now when an insincorator technician comes to your home to replace that insincorator, they're going to offer you a whirlpool, maybe a dishwasher while they're there. And when a whirlpool technician comes in to fix your fridge, they're going to offer you an insincorator for that sink right over there. And that is why Whirlpool dropped $3 billion on that insincorator monopoly. It's a tool in their cross-selling arsenal.

So, Jack, can you please warn everyone in the household before you turn on an Insincorrator and whip up the takeaways for us over there? The dirty little secret of doing deals is that two-thirds of acquisitions are failures. Okay, Yetis, that may sound familiar because earlier this week, we did that takeaway. We told you that Coca-Cola and Body Armor are an example of two out of three deals failing. Coca-Cola admitted that their acquisition of Body Armor sports drink was not working so far. But here's what Jack and I are thinking. If two out of three acquisition deals are a failure, then one out of three are a success.

And it looks like Insincorator is one of those successes. Now, Yeti's, the way an acquisition is successful is through synergies, either a cost synergy or a revenue synergy. A revenue synergy is when one plus one equals three, when the sum is greater than the two parts. A revenue synergy means you generate more combined money together than you do if you were separate. In Syncorator and Whirlpool, they now share customers and can sell more to them overall. And that revenue synergy is why Insincorator's acquisition actually succeeded.

For our second story, Chipotle's stock jumped 13% yesterday because Guac has never been more extra. It's thanks to a new thing that we're calling loveflation. Loveflation. But Jack, before we kick off, I forgot, I gotta wish you happy burrito season, my friend. Burrito season. It's a real thing. According to Chipotle, the warm weather and longer days make people crave their tacos. Yetis, when the temp start popping, the fajitas start folding. And Chipotle's management referenced burrito season three times yesterday on their earnings call. Apparently, March, April, and May. That is peak selling time over at Chipotle for burritos.

Because nothing pairs with good weather like a wet and cheesy burrito. Yeah, sun's out, beans out. Had to tell you roll, Yeties. But yesterday, Chipotle stock jumped 13% to an all-time high after. to reporting earnings. It is peak burrito season and the stock just peaked for Chipotle. It is over $2,000 a share. Chipotle is up 50% this year. It is an absolute standout achiever in the stock market so far. But yet he's, Jack and I should point out something here. There's a sneaky secret going on behind everything at Chipotle right now. I know you don't usually check your receipts at

Chipotle, but you should check your latest receipt from Chipotle. You should check that receipt because it Turns out, Chipotle has raised prices across the menu by 10% since last year. That is two times the rate of inflation. We repeat, the average burrito is up from $9 to $11 from two years ago. 10%. That's not a cute little cilantro-sized price increase. Oh, it is not. That is a brazed beef-sized wallet smacker.

And you know what? Honestly, Jack, that's not even the worst part. Should we tell them the worst part? Chipotle admitted. Nay, they confessed that avocado prices have actually fallen in the... the past year because there's too many avocados in the market. So you think, Chipotle would look at its loyal customers and say, hey, if the avocado prices are down, let's make the price of guacamole lower.

You'd think maybe they would lower the price of guac. You'd think wrong. Yeah, because apparently guac over Chipotle is still extra. It's always going to be extra. And we still haven't even told you the best part for Chipotle. They raised prices by 10% last year and the number of customers rose by 4%. They were like, you know, guac is extra extra, and you're like, yeah, I know, sign me up for two. It caused more people to come into the store.

Not less, more. So what is going on? Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies over at Chipotle? We're calling it loveflation. When you love a specific product so much, you keep paying more for it. Besties back in January, Jack and I told you about consumers pushing back on high inflation prices. We won't take it anymore. We called it the pantine shampoo price pushback.

Yeah, inflation ended up slowing because Americans started saying no to price increases. But now we have evidence that you're still saying yes for specific brands. For example, Nestle just raised the price of Kikats by 10%. Which is the same price hike as Tripola. And you keep paying for KittKats. Hepsey just announced they raised prices a shocking 16% across the board. That's a lot. And just about everybody kept paying.

Okay, so we're saying no and we're pushing back on price hikes for most things. But we're not pushing back on price hikes for brands that we love. That is loveflation and Chipotle is taken full advantage of it. For our third and final story, Microsoft's

biggest acquisition ever, it was going to be just huge, just got blocked. Why? Ironically, it's call of duty. That's why. Jack, let's jump in T-Boy style here. How much money did Americans spend on video games last year? We spent collectively $57 billion on video games.

Well, Jack, one year ago, Microsoft said it was going to spend how much money on video games? More than all of Americans combined. Microsoft was going to spend $75 billion on one video game company. $75 billion. The whole world was going to have to play video games over a Bill Gates' house, Jack. And pay him for it. Yeah, and I'm not sure if he, like, hands out muffins or treats when you're playing. B.YO keyboard.

And here's why. Microsoft was splurging. $75 billion in its biggest acquisition ever for Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard. This is the company behind, you could probably call it the Hall of Fame of Video Games. They own World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, Candy Crush, and dozens of other video games. The only thing they don't own is Mario Kart.

Right, Mario Kart's part of Nintendo. And the reason Microsoft wanted to do this huge deal, because Microsoft already owns the hardware. Xbox. But now they would own all the content, too. the video games themselves. And that would be a powerful combination. So everyone's getting ready for the biggest Microsoft deal ever.

And then boom, we get a surprise yesterday. The Brits are trying to kibosh the deal. Yes, they are. They're yanking the power cord right out of that Xbox in the middle of the game I was playing. That's the worst. These, here's what went down. Britain's competition regulator announced yesterday

it is blocking that biggest deal in Microsoft history. His Majesty's government said that Xbox cannot buy all of these Xbox games. But we should point out, England doesn't rule the world anymore. This isn't 1775. So Microsoft could ignore Britain and buy the company anyway. But here's the problem now. If Microsoft goes ahead with this deal, then they aren't going to be allowed to do business in the United Kingdom. That's why experts think this deal is dead. Here's the funny thing about the whole situation. Microsoft investors, what did they think about this, Jack? They were relieved. Apparently, they think $75 billion was way too much for them to be buying.

on video games. In fact, Microsoft stock jumped 8% yesterday on news that Britain is blocking their video game deal. But the stock of the other company, Activision Blizzard, it fell 12% and their CEO was hurling angry insults at England yesterday. We're not kidding. The CEO of the video game company, he said some weird things. He accused Britain of being anti-business and said, you're not Silicon Valley, you're Death Valley. It was bizarre. So Jack, what's the takeaway for Our buddies over at Microsoft. Every company has a call of duty, including Microsoft. Yeties, here's the reason the Brits gave for Block and Microsoft's merger.

It was Microsoft's call of duty. We're not talking about the famous video game, Call of Duty, which Microsoft was trying to buy. We're talking about this Call of Duty. The Brits say that Microsoft has a duty, a call of duty to innovate in video games. The Brits fear that if Microsoft owns both Xbox and Xbox's best video games, then Microsoft will stop innovating. The Brits worry that Microsoft would just sit back, relax, enjoy Monopoly video game profits, and stop innovating.

So ironically, the Brits won't let Microsoft do this Call of Duty deal because of their own Call of Duty. Microsoft's Call of Duty to innovate. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Insincirator. Oh, watch out. There's a fork in there. Insincorator has been successfully integrated into Whirlpool. can't scare me like that, man. I'm new to this thing. Yet he's two out of three acquisitions fail.

But Insincorator is the one successful one. For our second story, Chipotle raised prices by 10% over the past year and enjoyed more customers in the store, not less. Yeah, you know why? It's because of lovelation. You love a specific product so much, you just keep paying more for it. And our third and final story is Microsoft. Their $75 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard looks to be over. Because Microsoft has a call of duty to innovate. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Ariel Frius from lovely South Florida. And honestly, we did not see this coming.

Totally would have gotten this wrong. When you think of oil production, what state do you think? You're thinking Texas. Classic, right? I drink your milkshake. It's the number one state in America for producing oil. But guess what's number two? It's not what you think.

I don't know what you think, but it's New Mexico. It's New Mexico, a state that produces a shocking amount of oil. It's number two in America. New Mexico has been booming in its fossil fuel production. In fact, New Mexico, it may have a one-up on old Mexico. Turns out, New Mexico produces more oil as of last year than regular Mexico. Did you say regular Mexico? Sorry, that's not.

By the way, by regular Mexico, I'm of course referring to the country of Mexico, the old Mexico. The Republic of Mexico, I think, is what it's called. Yes. New Mexico, the state, produces more oil than the country of Mexico. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And if you haven't yet, the best way you can help grow this show, tell your buddies at work today, H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. It means have you had the best one yet? And then tell them all about the show. If you know, you know.

Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a shout out to legendary Yeti, Carolyn Castillo. who is on an airplane right now on her way to visit her favorite daughter in Seattle. And congratulations to Emily and Kai, celebrating their two-year anniversary after meeting on Hinge in Century City. And Taylor and Becca Vogan are enjoying a not too shabby 11-year anniversary down in Mesa, Arizona. And Tiffany, happy 18 years together over in Saginaw, Michigan. And a happy birthday to Javier Ortiz, originally from Bogota, Colombia, but T-Boing here in the United States.

Happy birthday to Nathan Schneider in Wichita Falls, Texas. And Doreena Sweeney, enjoy that birthday over in Denver, Colorado. Happy birthday to Jewel Chang in Alhambra, California. And Sarah Coffee, happy 26th birthday over in Raleigh, North Kakalaki, North Carolina. And happy birthday to Matt Levetsky, who's about to win Dad of the Year Award. He is celebrating his birthday while giving his baby a bottle over in Ridgewood, New Jersey. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Bloid. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack, Nick and I both on stock of Chipotle. As of last year, then regular Mexico. Then all of Mexico. Sorry, that's that. That original raise, Mexico. Famous raised, New Mexico? No, no, original race. Did you say regular Mexico?

Yes, it's regular. Oh, let's just keep it in. I don't even I think we're thinking I'm