The Best One Yet - 🐊 “Thirst Trap” — Gatorade’s brand expansion. Elon’s 1st 100 days. Lyft’s brutal buy-ability.

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

Elon just finished his first 100 days at Twitter, so how’s it looking? Pepsi used the Super Bowl to announce it’s expanding the Gatorade franchise — because you gotta let your winners ride. And just after Uber had its best quarter ever, Lyft had its worst day ever.$PEP $KO $LYFTFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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. Welcome back. It is Monday, February 13th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-Boy. Yetis, you look fantastic today. You do look fantastic.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to play our quiz from last week that we drop every Friday, you can still play the quiz. Go.com to play last week's pop-biz news quiz. You can still play the quiz. It's our one-minute weekly Pop-Biz, Pop Quiz. How well do you know our business stories? In the meantime, Jack, What's our first story for today's pod?

Elon Musk just finished his 100th day at Twitter. So how are things looking? Well, we got a story to share from one fired employee. For our second story, yesterday, Pepsi used the Super Bowl to highlight the next era of Gatorade. Well, Gatorade has got a monopoly on muscle money. For our third and final story, last week, we told you that Uber had its best quarter ever. Funny timing, because Lyft just had its worst day ever. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic.

A fantastic mix. A fantastic mix to kick off the week. This is a good mix, Jack. We're going to kick off the week with a warning. We got a warning because we're checking the clocks and you've got 24 hours until Valentine's Day. It's tomorrow. If you haven't ordered that chocolate covered candle, get on it. If you haven't reserved a room full of roses, book it. But if you plan on popping the question this Valentine's Day, like getting engaged. Oh, there you go. There you go. We got an idea for you.

Yes, we do. No pressure. No pressure here. But you may be. want to consider this. When it comes to venues for getting engaged, you could propose in a lovely park, or you could propose by a beautiful lake. Or you could propose at a restaurant. Get this point yet, is if you get engaged at Cracker Barrel on Valentine's Day tomorrow, you get free food for a year. Okay, what we're saying here is you order pancakes and you pop the question. You're getting free pancakes for a year. So you get down on one knee, then you get a full stomach. Jack, first comes the ring and then comes the unlimited syrup. It's called I Said Yes at Cracker Barrel, but we have an issue with this deal.

Yeah, Yetis, Jack and I've got a problem with this here promo Cracker Barrel. Why is it only one year of free food? Last time Jack and I checked, that looks like too little food for a full life commitment. Your partner is forever. Why aren't the pancakes forever too? Jack, you choose your wife for life. What about the free waffles for life? Yeties, love is priceless and timeless. The way we see it, an unlimited buffet of bacon egg hash brown casseroles, that should be two. It should be two.

Jack, let's say yes to our three stories. Fifteen 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 one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack, Nick gets, 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. For our first story, Elon Musk's first 100 days of owning Twitter just ended, and here's the main thing that we've learned. As Elon's buzz has waned, so has engagement on Twitter. Okay, Yetis. Jack and I, we used to own shares of Twitter when it was a public company, which was a lot of fun. Remember, that was a blast? We did. We each got paid $54.20 when the acquisition was finalized.

Because we each only owned one share. But since Twitter is now a private company owned by Elon, Jack and I can't get the data from earnings reports like we used to when it was a public company. We only get data if Elon shares data with us. Well, months ago, Elon boasted that engagement on Twitter was higher than it had ever been in the history of the tweet. He even took the step to show Twitter users just how high engagement was with a new feature. Yeah, the big new feature from Twitter a few months ago was view counts. View counts.

So you don't just see how many likes and retweets your tweets get, but you also see a how many people viewed it. Which means you saw how many people viewed it and didn't actually like it. It's like, according to this, 700 people saw it and didn't do anything. Yeah, but no one was enough of a fan to like it. They moved right past my tweet, didn't they? But Yetis, if we follow the Twitter data, you'll notice that the public view counts that we've all been seeing have been falling. Funny thing, actually, the view counts on Elon's tweets in particular, they're falling the most.

Now, Yeties, Jack and I were fascinated with that. And again, Twitter is a private company now. So the only info we have on it is from insiders and former insiders. Yes, former insiders. So we were curious about this story that just got published from someone who was fired just this month by Elon Musk himself. Okay, follow us. Here's the story, Yetis. Elon had brought a bunch of engineers, high-level engineers, into a meeting.

And he asked those engineers, why are the view counts on my tweets falling? I'm like the most followed person in the world. How are they following? Now, apparently Elon thought this was a technical mistake. Like, he's like, hey, why are people viewing me less on Elon Musk? But one engineer said, uh, it's not me. It's actually you, Elon. And that engineer just told his story to Casey Newton, the author of the platformer newsletter.

Here's what went down according to that article. This engineer showed Elon his viewership on Google is down too. It's not just down on his tweets. Get this yet. He's Google Trends, which tracks all of our Google searches. It shows that peak interest in Elon Musk being Googled peaked in April 2022. Yeah, that's when the index was at 100 on Google Trends for searches of Elon Musk. But Jack, where do Google searches of Elon Musk sit today?

They're down to just nine. Searches for Elon Musk, interest in Elon Musk has dropped 90% in the last few months. Which might be why viewership of his tweets are also down. And as a result of all that, Jack, what was Elon's response to that engineer who brought up that whole point? You're fired. Yeah. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Twitter? You don't just ship products. You ship your org chart. Yeties, for tech companies in particular, the product that you put into the world is a reflection of the people at the company. It's a little different for physical companies, like a baseball bat company. The most important thing is the wood.

You got to have good wood at a baseball bat company. But for tech companies, the people are really the most important resource. Well, Twitter's org chart is. a mess. So the products Twitter has been shipping, they've been a mess too. For example, Elon's signature product is their new Twitter Blue, a monthly subscription to generate revenue for Twitter. But only 180,000 Americans are paying for it, according to the information. Okay, 180,000 Americans. That's it. That's just 0.2% of Twitter users. Another example, just last week, Twitter suffered an outage that lasted for hours in the middle of the day. And apparently, the one team that was supposed to fix it, couldn't fix it because they'd been laid off.

Elon's first 100 days at Twitter have wreaked havoc on the org chart. So, havoc is exactly what Twitter shipped. For our second story, Pepsi just announced earnings, but Jack and I want to talk specifically about Gatorade. Because Gatorade has become Pepsi's monopolistic muscle. Yeties, you were watching the Super Bowl yesterday, and that thing ain't over until a fat jug of Gator Egg is soaking up some poor coach. You know the first coach to get a Gatorade shower?

Yeah, who was it, Jack? Bill Parcells, New York Giants. What was that, 1980? Something? It was either 86 or 90. I'm not sure. Oh, by the way, I jumped in T-boy style for us. Do you know what the most common Gatorade color is to throw on a coach?

Do you know what this is? Lemon Lime. The least likely color is red and then blue and then Lennon Line. You were right. It was lemon line. It was lemon line. It was Llein line. But yeah, here's what Jack and I want to talk about Gatorade.

Gatorade wasn't just the star at the end of the football game yesterday. Yesterday, Gatorade was also the star during the game yesterday. Because Pepsi bought a commercial to announce that they are expanding their Gatorade brand. Now, Gatorade, it is not just a sugary electrolyte drink anymore. It's not just cold blue or riptide rush or orange or fruit punch. You don't have to worry about that whole Yellow 5 situation either. If you know, you know. Because Gatorade also produces today energy truths, energy gels, protein powders.

Oh, and they get this. Gatorade tried to do a yogurt a little while ago. But here's the news. Pepsi is moving all of their sports nutrition brands under the Gatorade brand umbrella. Okay, we repeat, Pepsi is going to toss the Gatorade logo onto muscle milk, propel, evolve, all of their different brands in the sports nutrition category. They're becoming Gatorade. If it's owned by Pepsi and Jocx drink it, it's going to have a Gatorade logo on the bottom. Now, yeties, here's what Jack and I have noticed about Gatorade. It's not just a drink anymore. Gatorade is a franchise.

Yeah, like Harry Potter, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, Gatorade. Let's toss Gatorade on the list, Jack. Because get this statistic. 70% of the entire sports drink market in the United States is Gatorade. Few brands have such large control and power in their market as Gatorade does in sports drinks. We were shocked. Now, we know you're thinking body armor is catching up. Yes, they are.

They're the disruptor drink. They've now got 10% of the market. And the perennial number two is power aid, which you get if they're out of Gatorade. It's owned by Coke. By Gatorade, it has got a half-century monopoly on muscle money, people. Gatorade is now the Nike of drinks. Yet he's a perfect example of this. Look at just one label of Gatorade, one drink that they make, Gatorade Zero.

Gatorade Zero sells $1 billion of product every year. It's a huge number. Okay, we repeat, one label of Gatorade sells over a billion bucks. of sales. That's more sales for Gatorade Zero than the entire company, Allbirds. We're not talking about all of Gatorade. We're talking about one Gatorade drink. So Pepsi is doubling down on the Gatorade brand instead of trying to launch new ones. Jack, there is one thing that I really wish Gatorade would do. You know what that is? What's that? I wish Gatorade would make you a Gatorade cold oatmeal. Would you feel good about that?

I feel like that would make you happy. If they made a yogurt, they might as well try oatmeal. You can make a cold oatmeal. Is that too much to ask for Gatorade? I think Taco Bell heard us last week, but they're not going to do it. Maybe Gatorade. It'll do it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Pepsi? Sometimes you got to let your winners ride. Yeties, by slapping a Gatorade logo on a dozen different drinks, honestly, Pepsi is risking overextending the brand.

It's a problem. Gatorade is a drink. Not a yogurt. Consumers could get confused or turned off by the corporatization of it all. But here's the interesting part. Pepsi tested the Gatorade brand and was shocked to see how much athletes actually trust it. Adding Gatorade logo to a bottle, resulted.

in and I quote, immediate increase in purchase intent. And that is why Pepsi is going to the extreme. They're going all out. They are putting the Gatorade logo on all their sports drinks. Just like they say in horse racing when you got a winner. Let your winners ride. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of Yetis don't realize how much prep work goes into this pot.

We spend hours every morning jumping in T-boy style to earnings reports, CEO tweets, breaking news headlines. Yeah, Jack and I are toggling tabs like you toggled I-M convos in 2000. For having eight tabs open can be stressful. You don't need that, especially when invested. Robin Hood offers it all in one app. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or you want to buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood Crypto. You can do it all on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing in Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's robinood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply.

Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve for it. By the way, this podcast is not owned or part of Robin Hood. We are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, last week, Jack and I told you that Uber had its best quarter ever. But we know what you're thinking, Yetis. What about Lyft? Lyft had its worst quarter ever. And they announced it on Friday, and the stock plummeted by 36%, Nick.

Okay, before we jump into all that, Yetties. First of all, Jack, last week, it seemed like things were going to be good for the ride hail companies, Right? Like we had good hopes. Things were looking bright. Like Uber, Lyft actually announced a record number of riders on their ride-hailing app. Okay, the co-founder of Lyft, John Zimmer, he said, ride-sharing is back, baby. Things were looking confident. But there's some differences between Uber's results and Lyft's results. In fact, big differences.

They're big differences. For example, Lyft's record was 20 million riders on the app. Uber's record was 130 million riders on the app. Lyft announced that revenues jumped by 21% last quarter. But Uber announced that revenues surged by 49%. Uber made $600 million in quarterly profit last quarter. Lyft, though, lost $600 million last quarter. In fact, while Uber had its best quarter ever,

Lyft's loss doubled from a year ago. It's going in the wrong direction. If so facto, add all that up and Lyft stock plummeted 36% on Friday. How's it looking for the full year, Jack? The stock is down 75% in the last 12 months. Yeah, Yeti's Lyft is now worth a quarter of a lift. I feel really bad because I'm kind of part of the problem. I don't know why, but I stopped using the Lyft app.

I don't compare rates anymore. Hello, it's Jack. I'm doing other ride hails. It's me. No, I always thought lift was like the Rudy, you know, the underdog that I wanted to root file. I know what you mean. The driver seemed to talk to you more. It felt like more of that kind of a thing.

I thought the pink app meant something to us. Well, apparently it didn't mean enough. The times are a changing. One reason Lyft lost so much money last quarter is because they had to let go of 700 people. And laying people off actually cost money. It does, it does. But the way Jack and I see it, the issues that Lyft is facing, they're more fundamental. A year ago, when we covered Lyft on this pod, we said that Lyft had over-focused on being focused.

Yeah, Lyft. They'd over-focused on focus. They did too much one thing. They did rides. Just rides, that was it. And if you compare that to Uber, you see, this is a tale of two ride hails. Yeah, it's like two rides diverged within a wood. Can we go full Bobby Frost on this, Jack?

I'm going to ditch Bobby Frost and go to my pad tie takeout because delivery of food has become Uber's biggest business, bigger than ride-haling. Perfect example, Jack. On the other hand, Lyft doesn't even do food delivery. For some reason, Lyft did not expand during the pandemic from rides, which was getting no business, to food delivery, which was getting tons of business. And as a result, before the pandemic, Uber was only three and a half times. bigger than Lyft. Now, Uber is seven and a half times bigger than Lyft in Revenue. But Yetis, if you

know Lyft, if you use Lyft, if you work at Lyft, do not lose hope because there is one trick left up Lift's sleeve. There is one pumping piston left in that chassis. And that trick arrives in three to five minutes. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lyft? Lyft's biggest strength right now is its viability. Okay, Yeti's, the only silver lining to Lyft's stock underperform is that it's become a really cheap company. Lyft has always been worth one Lyft, but one Lyft is now just $4 billion of market cap. There's a lot of value there. Lyft has been undesirable to investors, but that makes it desirable to another company.

Lyft has a recognizable brand, a huge installed user base, and a proven tech platform that works all the time. So the way Jack and I see it, Lyft may create more value as part of Tesla. Tesla could create a fleet of Tesla taxis. Or Lyft could create more value as part of Airbnb. Together, they could create a vertically integrated travel company. Or Lyft could create more value together with DoorDash. DoorDash plus Lyft could take on Uber together. Because Yeti's, Lyft's weak stock price is actually its strongest asset.

Lyft's weak stock price is its buyability. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? A hundred days into Elon's ownership of Twitter, things are chaotic. Because at a tech company, you don't ship products, you ship org charts. For our second story, Pepsi's Gatorade brand is being applied to all of Pepsi's sports drinks, smoothies, and bars. Pepsi, you found a winner? Let your winners ride, baby.

And our third and final story, Uber is outperforming Lyft because for some reason Lyft didn't get into food delivery. Lyft's biggest strength right now is its viability. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Kelly Bridenbaugh in Fairport. Port New York. Push and play. Here we go. Thinking about calling out sick on Monday,

well, you wouldn't be alone. The Monday after the Super Bowl is one of the most popular days to play hooky in the United States. Research has found that lost productivity on that day costs U.S. employer $6.5 billion, and that's billion with a B. Another survey found that 39% of employees want the day after the Super Bowl to be a national holiday. What do you think?

tweet at T-Boy Pod and let Jack and Nick know. Nick, who's the 61% that doesn't want the holiday? Oh, I'm sorry. Were you not satisfied with the lower-priced wings and the lower-priced guac? Now you're going to take this away from us? Honestly, when the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, I was so unproductive at work the next day. Remember, our buddy Timmy took the whole week off.

I think he called it spring break in February. Yeah, he did. He did. We saw the ticker tape parade on Broadway in Manhattan. That was pretty cool. It was at the light. Yetis, you look fantastic for the least productive day of the year. So keep doing whatever you're doing in those pajamas.

And celebrate the fact that we all stole $6.5 billion from our employers today. That money wasn't lost. It was transferred to your relaxation. Jack and I will see you tomorrow. It transferred to your snooze button. If you know, you know. And before we go, congratulations to Yeti Ryan Everhart, who went five out of five for his sixth T-boy quiz in a row.

This guy's on a roll, Jack. We've got to make the questions tougher so we can stump this guy. I want to make it a little tougher next week, Ron. We're going a little tougher. To take the quiz, go to go.tieboypod.com. And a shout-out to Yeti's vow, the mother, Mark, the father, and Mary Parker Johnstone, who all are in the same family and all have birthdays this week.

Okay, Nick, Alex's birthday is March 3rd. Mine is March 5th. Our baby is due March 6th. We could have a three consecutive day situation. We'll get you a shout out on the pod, Jack. We'll get you a shout out on the pod. And a happy birthday to Karen Perez, who's turning 30 in Queens and has been listening to T-Boy since 2018.

Happy birthday to Angela Spillane from Somerville-Mask just outside of Boston. And a happy birthday to Gary Melosha in Hopkington, Mass, also just outside Boston. Happy 10th birthday to Danielle Guilfoyle in New York City. And Nancy Vu, congrats on the new job on the office. ops finance team over at Walmart. And happy birthday to Justin Beckman, who's celebrating his birthday and listening to us while delivering the mail in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jack, when you control the mail, you control information.

This is Jack, Nick and I both on stock of Airbnb and Robin Hood. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. A lot of you listen to our show while you're driving. Two hands on the wheel. Keep it ten and two. You might be cruising Chris, no rush, stay in the right lane. Or you might be doll lane from Duncan, dotting from lane to lane. And there are different drivers on the road.

They're different investors too. Maybe you're cruising down the long-term lane with stock investing, or maybe you're a more advanced full-speed trader. Well, the Robin Hood app helps put you in the driver seat wherever you're at in your investing journey. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinode.com slash t-boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply.

LLLC, member SIPC, all investments involved risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robinhood. You got to have a good one at a baseball bat company.