The Best One Yet - 🍊“The Trump Stock” — DJT’s $3B stock market windfall. Loyal’s life-extending dog startup. Athleisure’s worst week.

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social is now a publicly traded stock — The former president turned the stock market into his GoFundMe. Loyal is developing a drug that may extend the life of a dog by a year — Because every generation brands health in its own image (first “dieting”, then “wellness”, now “life extension”).And athleisure stocks suffered a truly awful Friday — Nike and Lululemon are asking for a flag: “Too many players on the field”.$DJT $LULU $NKESubscribe 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, March 25th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. Nick and I served up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today.

I'm sorry, Jack, one second. Pause the pod. We got a high-pressure situation coming in from the north. How much snow are you under right now? 17 inches. Yeah, Jack's calling in a snow day. He's recording from his home studio right now. Yeah, yeah.

It's been great. We're doing a little bit of skinning, a little bit of downhill skiing and a little bit of sledding. Just be careful, Jack. That snow could be ranch dressing. Enough for that. I hate thinking about ranch dressing. I'm just saying it happens to the best of us. In the meantime, Jack, stay warm.

What are our three stories for today's show? For our first story, Donald Trump is officially trading on Wall Street. And the deal represents a $3 billion gain for the former president. Yeah, it is. For the first time ever, you can now buy stock in a president. For our second story, the athleisure industry just had its worst week since you ripped those leggings that one time. Lulu Lemon and Nike, they're going to need to see the trainer, Jack. And our third and final story is about one startup called Loyal.

Loyal has developed a drug to extend the life of your dog. The life extension industry. It begins with Lassie. And it ends with Larry. Oh, he's a good boy. Oh, is a good boy. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Boom, what a mix of stories. What a way to kick off the week.

Last week, we covered on this pod the biggest corporate lawsuit of the year. The United States v. Apple Incorporated. It's a big lawsuit that's going to last years. But there was another huge lawsuit that you haven't heard about yet. And that lawsuit is Starbucks being sued over oat milk. Starbucks is in court because of coconut milk. Yeah, he's get this. Starbucks was just sued in California by lactose and typhos.

customers for being intolerant of lactose intolerance. It's a true story. Starbucks is accused of discriminating against the lactose intolerant by charging them more. And a lactose intolerant just will not tolerate that, Jack. They're not tolerating your oat milk order. But Jack, could you sprinkle on some, I'm sorry, could you just pour on some context for us over there? Unless you're like a half and half guy, you know that Starbucks offers four alternative milks, almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, and soy milk. And you also know that Starbucks charges 50 cents to $1 more if you choose one of those alt milks.

Now look, it'd be one thing if almond milk cost more than dairy milk. And that's why Starbucks was charging more. But here's the thing. It doesn't cost more. All the milks pretty much cost the same price these days. I got nipples, Jack. Can you milk me? But Starbucks doesn't care.

They've decided that if you customize your creamer, they're going to profitize on your creamer. In fact, Starbucks has made over $1 billion on alternative milk uprolet. charges in recent years according to this lawsuit. Now, Nick and I consulted with plaintiff's counsel, okay? Based on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Starbucks is discriminating. Ipso facto, Starbucks discriminates against people who can't drink dairy. Because if regular milk messes with your stomach and you have to pay more, that's an injustice. Yet is this lawsuit, it could force the end of the alt milk upcharge. If this class action lawsuit prevails, it could finally kill the oat milk fee.

We don't tolerate those who don't tolerate the intolerant. Your double-digit latte might get a little less double-digit. And we're down with that. Jack, let's in our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best. 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. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Donald Trump made $3 billion in an instant on Friday, as his truth social website is now trading on Wall Street.

But this stock is really a go-fund me page. Having grown up in New York, you kind of notice this, that Donald Trump has spent a career putting his name on things and then selling those things. He's put his name on hotels, on residences, on golf courses, on online courses, on stakes, on sneakers. Trump's biggest business is licensing his name. Well, now it's time to add one more thing he's license his name to, a publicly traded stock.

Because yet he had his three years ago, a shell company went public as a SPAC. We covered it on this pot, and it was called Digital World Acquisition Corp. That SPAC had one purpose and one purpose only, to merge with truth social, which was Trump's Twitter alternative. Well, after three years of legal issues, including Instagram, or trading charges and a settlement with the SEC, that merger finally happened on Friday. So beginning this week, that shell company is going to be renamed to reflect that new merger. From Digital World Acquisition Corp to Trump, Media, and Technology Group.

It's a publicly traded stock trading on NASDAQ. Now, Yeties, Jack and I worked on Wall Street before. And from a traditional stock valuation standpoint, this is the most overvalued stock of all time. And we can prove that with fundamentals. Because this publicly traded company has one product, Truth Social, Trump's social media platform. To be clear, this stock does not include Trump's golf courses, Trump's hotels, or Trump's other real estate,

all his other cash flow positive assets. It just includes Truth Social. And also, to be clear, truth social as a business is not exactly as you'd say, per se, a success. Yet is get this. Truth Social brought in $5 million in revenue last year. $5 million in revenue is less than one Olive Garden location. It's not less than the Olive Garden Company, the chain.

It's less than one location off like Route 103. So this company has the revenue of one Olive Garden, like the one I used to waiter at in South Burlington, Vermont. You may have even outperformed Truth Social over there, Jack. And yet this company is worth $5 billion based on their current stock price. Which means the company's value is 1,000 times it's sale. That is a multiple that is higher than any stock we've ever seen. And that's why we said it's the most overvalued stock we've ever seen.

And since the former president owns 60% of all that stock, his stake in this company is worth $3 billion. And the timing of this couldn't have been better. Because Donald Trump owes the state of New York $450 million for a civil fraud case. So Trump will probably sell a big chunk of his $3 billion in stock to pay those fines and legal fees. But Nick, for every seller, there must be a buyer. So if Trump is selling, Trump supporters are buying. Which leads to our takeaway.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in the stock market? Donald Trump has turned the stock market into his GoFundMe page. We all know why this company is worth $5 billion with a B dollars. It's not the business. It's the politician. Investors in Trump Media and Technology Group are essentially handing their money to Donald J. Trump. After all, the ticker symbol for the stock is D.J.T. It's literally Donald J. Trump.

Now, some are calling this the mother of all meme stocks, but we're calling it a GoFundMe page in disguise. Yeah, it is Trump has a lot of experience leveraging his personal brand to enrich himself. But this is by far the biggest one he's ever pulled off, worth $3 billion. Donald Trump has turned the stock market into a GoFundMe page. For our second story, the Athleisure industry just pulled a hammy. Athleisure just had its worst week of the year. Nike, Lulu Lemon, Adidas. They're all feeling the stock market burn right now.

Jack, first of all, I just want to say, you're looking fantastic over there. Second thing I want to say is that the athleisure industry, it is more leisure than ath these days. I am wearing full athleisure right now. Is that what you're referring to? I knew it. That's why I said it. I don't care who you are. You're spending your whole weekend in leggings these days.

A sweaty betty's wearing Viori on top with a fabletic. cute top on the bottom. You all know it. On Friday, Nick and I noticed something strange. All the top athletic apparel brands are on the injured reserve list. Jack, I'm checking the scoreboard here. Nike was down 6%. LULU was down 15% just on Friday. In one day, those two companies lost $20 billion of market cap. That is three lifts. It was their worst day since leg day. Even Adidas had a rough day on Friday. Adidas, a German apparel company. They lost the sponsorship to

Germany's national soccer team, which had been lasting for 70 years. Bottom line, besties, across the athletic industry, it was all pain, no gain. If your company hugged skin or wick sweat or sculpts the booty, it was a bad week for you on the Wall Street. But yeties, let's pause the pot and head on over to the locker room. Let's look at two specific companies with this athleisure slowdown. What was going on with Nike and Lulu last week, Jack? Well, the Nike CEO ripped on himself.

He said that the company just wasn't performing to their potential. A sign of Nike struggle right now, the Air Force One shoe. They're cutting production of their most famous flagship shoe because they just can't sell enough. Nike, their stock is down 20% in the last year, so the company is basically benching itself. Let's head over to the yoga studio. Lulu Lemon's CEO also cited a challenging quarter and had to lower his forecasts. One surprising issue for Lulu Lemon, they didn't have enough cool colors. I get that.

Lulu Lemon always has like five colors, and they're all very dark. The kids these days, they want bright colors, and Lulu Lemon just didn't have enough bright colors in the last few months. Gen Z is swapping out Lulu's space gray and Mojave blush leggings for dupes that are lower priced and come in slamming salmon pink. You want the colors that will burn your retina, and that's what they didn't have at Lulu Lemon. But the bigger issue facing both Lulu and Nike and any other company that makes stretchy shorts is our takeaway. So, Jack, don't change what you're wearing. And can you tell us what's the takeaway for all our buddies over in athleisure? We have to call a penalty.

Too many men on the field. Yeah, it is. Since the pandemic, there's been a surge of comfort first consumer preferences. Jack and I have called it the comfort economy. So every fashion label and every fashion startup is pivoting into athlete leisure. The competition is intense these days. Like Gap, they're promoting their athletic brand. Or Levi's, they acquired B&A.

You got Allo Yoga and Viorei, which are both expanding, and Victoria's Secret launched an Athleisure line last fall. Jack, when we were in Los Angeles last weekend, we walked into an on-running store. They're selling athleisure apparel too. So is Hoka, a company known for shoes. They have athlete leisure as well. Yeah, it is added all up, and that's why Lulu's slowing, Nike slowing, and why outdoor voices just closed all their athletic stores.

Look, the barriers to launching an athleisure brand are really low, so there's more players jumping into the field. And that surge and supply, that is putting pressure on the veterans of athleisure. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Loyal is a startup that just raised $45 million to extend the life of your dog. Silicon Valley thinks if your puppy can live longer, then so can you. Jack, I got to ask, how is River doing? How old is River right now, by the way.

She's four. She is a wonderful supermod. Well, Yeti, San Francisco-based Loyal has now raised $125 million for River to enjoy the 30s. Loyal is a company full of biochemists that are trying to make River live forever. And now let's jump into the business here. They are working on one product so far, and it's a drug called L-O-Y-001 to extend the life of your Labradoodle. They have formulated a molecule that they inject into. breeds that are 40 pounds or more. So, River's actually ineligible, unfortunately. But this drug

lowers the dog's growth hormones and slows down the animal's growth. We repeat, eddies, here's the idea, you can't slow down time, but you can slow down how fast you grow in time. So this drug delays the dog's growth to extend the dog's life. You're like, how old is Lassie? 37. In human years. Early data shows that this drug could extend the life of a dog by one year. So I don't think we're getting 37 years anytime soon. We may even round it up on that, but the FDA just gave the green light to move ahead with clinical trials of this dog life enhancing drug. So Loyal is looking for volunteer parents to have their pups participate in this pilot. But yet he's here's what Jack and I have found fascinating about this story. If we look at Loyal's

corporate structure, we can learn a lot about the company's true ambitions. Because Loyal is a subsidiary of cellular longevity, which is a startup, worth $220 million. And this startup is actually a biotech company with a tail. So Loyal is trying to extend the life of your puppy, but the parent company is thinking beyond dogs. Jack and I should point out here, no species ever. Human or animal.

Has ever had a life-extending drug approved by the FDA, or anyone. Human, animal or plant or fungi. But interestingly, animal drugs are cheaper and faster to approve than human drugs. So this, this animal-enhancing product, this could be the first one in history. first drug that extends life. Now, Jack and I do wholeheartedly believe that the entrepreneurs behind this drug are dog lovers like us. They love their pooches. But we also think that this dog drug is just a proof of concept. The end goal is to extend human life and it says it right on the website. And what we're saying here is the tail is kind of wagging the dog, right, Jack? Yeah. Because offering

pet owners one more year of who's a good boy, that'd be a billion dollar business. But doing the same thing for humans, that would be a trillion dollar. business. And that is why this startup has raised $125 million from venture capital. Yeah, it's not just about Fido. It's also about Frank who lives down the street and owns Fido. So Jack, in human years, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Loyal? Every generation rebrands health in its own image. Every generation rebrands health in its own image. For baby boomers, the health trend was all about diets. Deline cuisine, Jenny Craig, weight loss, the Atkins diet, the diet was the key word.

Weight Watchers became a multi-billion dollar company based on diets and weight loss. Well, for us millennials, the health trend became wellness. Mental health, sleep health, clean eating. Wellness is what it's all about. Direct-to-consumer wellness startups capitalized on that trend and they've raised billions of dollars on wellness. But now for Gen Z, Nick and I notice the health trend is life extension. On TikTok, it's anti-aging, life extension, living forever, that is what's trending now.

Loyal's life-extending dog business is part of that trend and reflects this broader evolution. Every generation rebrands health into its own image. Boomers were diets, millennials were wellness, and Gen Z is life extension. And entrepreneurs tailored their products to fit those brands. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? DJT is the ticker symbol of Donald J. Trump. You can now invest in a former president.

Donald Trump has turned the stock market into a go-fund-me page. For our second story, Athleisure. It was unathletic last week. Lululemon and Nike lost $20 billion of combined value in one day. And we have to call a penalty here, too many players

on the athleisure field. And our third and final story is loyal. Loyal is working on a drug that extends the life of a dog by a year. Life extension, because every generation brands health in their own image. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, this summer, you can watch the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in IMAX. IMAX, the epic movie theater.

They're partnering with NBC to show the Olympics opening ceremony at all U.S. locations. Yeah, actually, Jack, didn't we say this last year? The future of theaters is like epic event experiences. I would do this if there was an IMAX in Vermont, which there isn't. And second, it is already baseball season. The first game of baseball was already played last week in South Korea. But this Thursday, it kicks off in earnest with all 30 teams playing an opening game. The pitch clock is still in effect. So the games will be shorter and you will, it'll be shorter.

It'll be shorter. So that's all you have to say about baseball. That's all I'm saying. It kind of is pretty solid. And finally, Jerry Seinfeld is officially now a billionaire, according to Bloomberg's research. In fact, Jerry Seinfeld has made five. $500 million from Seinfeld residual rerun payments. Jerry Seinfeld is a fancy boy.

He's now a billionaire, not too shabby. Congratulations, Jerry. He should buy the New York Mets. Apparently, there is not more to life than making fairly obvious, shallow observations about things. What's the deal with our takeaways? Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Savannah Westwood from lovely Orlando, Florida. Napoleon. He just got a movie with Joaquin Phoenix, right?

He's often described as being pretty short in stature, like, as if he was five foot two. Napoleon complex. It's when someone's like short and kind of tries to overcompensate. Okay, but apparently his measurement five foot two was in French historical units, which are different than today's English units. Are you ready for this? Napoleon's actual height, he was five foot six and a half inches. He's five foot seven, basically, which is the average height at the time for French men. So Napoleon wasn't short. He was average.

And also, he used to surround himself with tall guards to, like, protect him, which made him look more short. Well, I guess that's why people thought he was short, because in comparison to his guards, he looked short. Large Louie on his left, like protecting him. George Washington was tall, right? Yeties, you're looking fantastic to start the week. And if you want to know the best way to help grow this pod, you can click to follow us right here on Spotify or Apple. Spotify actually just publicized the number of followers that shows have. So if you could follow us on Spotify, we'd really love that.

So Yeti's hit that follow button, enjoy your almond milk, and Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti, Catherine Domingo, who's celebrating down in Arnold, Maryland, with some lacrosse wallball. Happy birthday to Alicia Danji in Toronto, Canada. And Aurora Ainos is enjoying breakfast and turning five years old down in Nashville, Tennessee. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Matthew Cisneros, who's turning nine on the way to school. in Houston, Texas. And Jackie Stromashor is celebrating with her husband and two kids in the Florida Keys.

She's got a birthday and she's enjoying some key lime shardine. Congratulations to O'Lock Hillier, who gave a TED talk on artificial intelligence versus human creativity. We can watch that thing on YouTube. Not too shabby. This is Jack. I own stock of Victoria's Secret. Nick owned stock of Lululemon and Nike. And we both on stock of Apple.

And Spotify. Nice. Great. Nice. job, Jack. Nice job, dude. I'm adding this embarrassing Victoria's Secret. Disclosure.

It's actually in the Alex almost account. Oh, wait, did she pull the trigger like on Robin Hood? I did for her. Yeah, I just tell her to text me and all. I do it for her. What kind of a fee charge these days? $35 per call. I need to talk to Alex about cutting out the middle jack.

Well, right, Alex. Can I interest you with some term life insurance for your chalet? Term life insurance. Alex, how you doing? No, hey, hey, honey, I got to talk to you about this. Look, death is scary, right?