The Best One Yet - 🤝 “TikTaken” — TikTok (finally) sold. Diet Coke vs Coke Zero. Madison Square Garden 5.0. +Chimney Sweep Surge

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, January 26th. And today's part is the best one yet this is a T-boy. The top three pop-business news stories you need to know today. Jack, I got another update for you. You know, my birthday wish was for Gwok to be free. Uh-huh. And then some Yeti sent us a gift certificate for free Gwok.

Starting point is 00:00:19 Amazing. We just got a DM from Chipotle for free guacamole, my friend. Seriously? Yeah, they're Yetty's over at Chipole. They just broke the laws of economics and made guacqu not extra for us. That is a first ever. They've never done this for anybody, Nick. Chipotle, thank you for the warm capitalist hogs, Jack.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Three fantastic stories for today's show. What do we got on the tea boy? For our first story, TikTok has finally officially been sold. But while the U.S. got the chassis, China kept the engine. Because the M&A of TikTok's U.S. business actually stands for messy and ambiguous. For our second story, why are you guys? zero sugar sodas surging, while diet sodas, pretty much the same thing, are dying. Well, because boomers do diet, zoomers do zero. And our third and final story, Harry Stiles is performing at Madison

Starting point is 00:01:11 Square Garden for 30 shows starting in May. Lovely. Unless the garden gets moved. Get this, Penn Station is coming back and MSG is getting the boot. But yet, he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a mix of stories to kick off the week. Love the mix, Jack. Welcome back from an outrageously cold weekend. I mean, Jack, I'm checking the numbers here. One half of the U.S. was hit with some kind of snow or ice or wintry friggin' mix. The high on Saturday here in Vermont was negative four. The high!

Starting point is 00:01:41 And I'm not talking about a wind chill. Jack had to wear three yak sweaters. I saw a picture of it. He's like a giant meatball. But Nick and I were a business show, and we found one surprise winner of the biggest snowstorm in like maybe ever. It's actually one of the oldest industries. Is it not, Jack?

Starting point is 00:01:57 chimney sweepers. Chimney sweepers, the hottest new job is literally hot. According to the New York Times, the profession of chimney cleaning is surging over in London. Get this, the Chimney Sweep Association membership is up 27% in the last five years. And the reason is high and volatile energy prices. Just last week, with that storm on its way, natural gas prices rose 75% in the U.S. And when prices pop, you search for a cheaper substitute. Grab the marshmallows, honey.

Starting point is 00:02:23 You pivot to the fireplace. If you got one, the wood stove. In Europe in particular, Russian gas is no longer a reliable eat source. So those Londonites are going all in again on logs. That's why 2026 is the biggest year for chimney sweepers since Charles Dickens. I mean, we're getting the Mary Poppins level pop over there, Jack. Chim chimney, chim chimney, chim, chimmy, choo. Yeah, congratulations to Dick Van Dyke.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Still living, by the way. Too shabby. Still chimney sweeping, I think, too. So, in this economy, a chimney, it's a pluffet, papa. Jack, I see you that's right story. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm.

Starting point is 00:03:06 It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. That's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 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. Start the show.

Starting point is 00:03:28 First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, it's final. and official. Ticktok's U.S. business is now American-owned. TikTok will not be banned. We'll tell you who the new owners of TikTok are, and if they're actually in charge or not. Yetis, the president of the United States, the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and all nine Supreme Court justices agree on one thing. TikTok cannot be legal in the United States if it continues to be owned by China. And while now, six years into this TikTok saga, TikTok U.S. is not old.

Starting point is 00:04:10 owned by China anymore as of last week. That's the big news. TikTok announced that they have separated it off their U.S. business and sold 80% of it to non-Chinese investors. By dance, a Chinese tech company that owned TikTok is keeping 20%, but they're giving the other 80% to mostly American investors. They're giving the other 80% to the consortium. The consortium.

Starting point is 00:04:33 I feel like we need a music thing there, Jack. The consortium is made up of billionaire investors mostly connected to the Trump White House, and they got a sweet deal. We said they got a sweet dealer because they got to buy 80% of TikTok's American business at a $14 billion valuation, Jack, could he sprinkle on some context? 14 billion, that's the same valuation as Snap. It feels to me like TikTok is more valuable than Snap. It's basically one lift, if we look at the numbers, Jack.

Starting point is 00:04:57 So what happened here is this consortium, they basically got offered to buy Apple stock, but had a huge discount to Apple Stock's actual price. TikTok was on the T.J. Max's sale rack lately. But Jack, pause the pod for a second. You mentioned the consortium, I'm envisioning like a team of characters in Star Wars. The consortium. Like, what do we mean by the consortium that bought TikTok? Leading the pack is Oracle, which is owned by Larry Ellison.

Starting point is 00:05:23 Besties, of course, you know, Larry Ellison, in the news for buying Paramount for his son and now trying to buy Warner Brothers Discovery as well. Well, now his tech company, Oracle, will house and audit TikTok source code on its U.S. located data servers. Okay, so we got Oracle owning 15% of TikTok. U.S. and Silver Lake, a random private equity firm in California, they own another 15% of American TikTok. Oh, you want random? How about MGX, a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund? They're going to get 15% of TikTok US as well. All right, so Jack, let me whip out the whiteboard and calculator here,

Starting point is 00:05:55 three times 15%. That's 45%. Jack, who owns the other 55% of American TikTok? We didn't get exact percentages of the rest of the investors, but they include Michael Dell, billionaire founder of computers and VC firms like Susquehanna, General Atlantic, and seven other VCs who previously had invested in China's bite dance. Mr. Beast, the YouTube star, he tossed his hat publicly in the ring and said he'd love to own a piece of TikTok. He got left out. Ah, it looks like he got left out. Now, ironically, the biggest owner of TikTok US today, who is a jack? Still bite dance. It's bite dance from China. Their 20% is bigger than all the other investors and they get to keep one seat on the board of the company. Basties, like we said at the top of the

Starting point is 00:06:39 pod. In this case, M&A doesn't stand for mergers and acquisitions. It stands for messy and ambiguous, especially because of our takeaway. T-Boy VC got left out of the deal, too. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at American TikTok? Remember that Burger King catchphrase? Where's the beef? Well, for the TikTok sale, where's the algorithm? Yiddies. This sale of TikTok US to prevent TikTok getting banned, it may follow the text of the law, but not the spirit of the law. most important part of TikTok is not being sold at all. The algorithm. The algorithm. That remains in Beijing. Now, reminder why China owning TikTok was a problem in the first place, it's because of propaganda. China is the most sophisticated propagandist the world has ever seen. And they were in charge

Starting point is 00:07:26 of Americans' media diet, the 4U page, which we scroll for like four hours a day. But Jack, it appears China is still in charge of that media outlets algorithm situation. TikTok's press release actually said Oracle will secure the algorithm. It also said that the U.S. entity will have the power to moderate, i.e. take down content from TikTok it doesn't like. But the key here is still the algorithm, which determines what you see next and is the reason people like TikTok in the first place. It's still made in China. TikTok US will pay bite dance to use their algorithm. That's the situation here. Like a McDonald's franchise paying McDonald's corporate to license the Big Mac. You know what, besties? Lindsay Graham, the senator, summed it up well.

Starting point is 00:08:10 We've gone round and round and ended up not too far from where we started. Because if TikTok is a car, we Americans got the chassis, but China is keeping the engine. Where's the beef? Where's the algo? For our second story, there's a new business battle brewing between diet soda and zero sugar soda. Boomers love one, Zillennials love the other, but they're pretty much the same thing. Diet Coke versus Coke Zero Sugar. This is the parent trap. of branding. Oh, besties, whip out the calendars.

Starting point is 00:08:41 We got 13 days till the Super Bowl in San Francisco. But we already know one commercial we're going to see on TV, and one that we won't. Diet Pepsi will not have a Super Bowl commercial this year. Pepsi's zero will. And the reason, well, Pepsi's CEO put it this way. We've gone all in on zero sugar. A majority of Pepsi's marketing budget this year

Starting point is 00:09:01 is going to their zero-sugar branded sodas. We're talking Pepsi's zero-sugar, Mountain do zero sugar, crush orange soda, zero sugar. Across the soda aisle, the words zero sugar are everywhere right now. We're talking about our buddies over at Dr. Pepper. What's going on with Dr. Peacacacac? Kurek, Dr. Pepper owns a bunch of soda brands. And five years ago, they had zero with the word zero sugar on the can. Today, Dr. Pepper has 40 different soda brands with the word zero on that label. And the reason is in these numbers. Diet Coke sales are up just 1% in last year, But Coke Zero sales are up 5%.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Diet Pepsi sales are down 4% in the last year, but Pepsi Zero sales are up 18%. But yet, just so we're clear here, both Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Zero, they're both calorie-free. They both use artificial sugar imitators, and they're nutritionally 100% the same exact product. Plot twist here, it's basically the same thing.

Starting point is 00:09:58 Yeah, there's a slight difference to taste, but like, okay, come on, come on, come on, come on. Coke Zero sugar is a little tamer on the aspartame, but it's 99% Diet Coke. I mean, when Jack and I are looking at the strategy here, it's like the plot of the parent trap with Lindsay Lohan, right, Jack? Yeah, these two are the same. Same DMA, just different outfits.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Do you want the Napa lifestyle or the London lifestyle? I can never decide, Jack. But here's what we find fascinating Yetis. It turns out there is a huge generational divide in terms of which soda label you actually reach for. Boomers have embraced the word diet ever since Diet Coke was invented in 1982. But that word diet, it's kind of like a different.

Starting point is 00:10:33 era, right, Jack? It conjures images of weight watchers, calorie counting, Jane Fonda Fitness videos, just like a life of, I don't know, scarcity and restraint. Yeah, if you were born in the 80s or 90s, like your mom definitely had an entire cabinet of snack wells, the diet snack wells, you know what we're talking about. But zero sugar, on the other hand, resonates with Zillenials, who are wellness-minded. Zillenials, you're not doing diets and you're not counting calories out there. Instead, after Pilates, you're checking your aura ring to see your blood sugar levels. As one marketing executive put it besties, diet is a radioactive term for anyone under the age of 40. Diet is like Voldemort. You don't say it. And that's why over Thanksgiving, your parents'

Starting point is 00:11:14 fridge was filled with soy sauce packets and two liters of Diet Coke. Meanwhile, your roommate has a jar of hot honey in their fridge and a 12 pack of zero sugar Pepsi. Get see every time it's a giveaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the Soda Wars, man? If a brand is a book, we very much judge it by its cover. Okay, so yet he's diet and zero sugar, they're almost identical products and yet totally different performance and totally different customer bases. I think it's crazy how we consumers can be so turned off by the word diet, even though it's 95% the same as the word zero, which we love. But the truth is, because of consumer psychology, psychonomics, we don't drink liquid, we drink the label. And that actually goes way beyond just soda. It's a reminder to all of us

Starting point is 00:12:01 that for quick consumer decisions, like what soda to grab, we make surface level decisions. Yeah, like you watch a YouTube video based on a tiny thumbnail picture, or you buy a lip gloss brand based on its weight when you hold it in your hand. The truth is, we're uninformed on these things. So if a brand is a book, we have to judge it by its cover. It's the same in politics, right, Jack? Like, the same issue presented with different words can provoke very different reactions from people. The diet versus zero soda divide, it's a reminder that if a brand is a book,

Starting point is 00:12:31 We very much judge it by its cover. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, New York's Penn Station, the most traffic transit hub in America, is on the brink of finally getting renovated. The new Penn Station glow-up looks incredible. It's a glam-up, baby. But the stock market winner is actually Madison Square Garden.

Starting point is 00:12:59 Oh, yet is. You've seen it. You've felt it. If you enter New York City through Grand Central Terminal, you feel like a royalty. If you enter New York City through Penn Station, you feel like a rat. Yeah, because when New York demolished the old Penn Station back in 1963, and my dad is still never forgiven him for it, it was a crime against humanity. Penn Station's replacement, which we still have today, makes 107 million transit passengers a year, feel like they're in some kind of a subterranean hunger games. Hey, Amtrak, I volunteer myself as tribute.

Starting point is 00:13:29 Nick, you're in survival mode down there. It's every commuter for themselves, Jack. For decades, city leaders have tried and failed to redo Penn Station, but continually failed. A big reason? Madison Square Garden, which was built on top of the new Penn Station in place of the old Penn Station. You see, Eddie's, the world's most famous arena, actually requires 1,000 columns to support that arena. That's why Penn Station, which is underneath it, feels so cramped. All those columns are holding up the garden right above it. But here's the news.

Starting point is 00:13:59 The political planets appear to be final. financially aligning, largely because of President Trump. The New York City real estate tycoon wants to leave a legacy on the city, so he's prioritizing a Penn Station glam-up like no other president has before. And we dove in T-boy style. Last week, Amtrak named three finalists to redevelop Penn Station from top to bottom. This is the project of a generation. And the most exciting of the three plans is called Grand Pen.

Starting point is 00:14:26 Grand plan, and, honestly, the plans are Napoleonically grand. I'm going to go with that one, Jack. It's a rebirth of classical architecture inspired by the original Penn Station. It looks fantastic. It looks kind of like the Coliseum. Oh, yeah, it's got an ancient Roman Riz, Jack. That's what it's got. The plan also calls for a public park and a grand commuter train hall for the passengers all above the ground, not below the ground.

Starting point is 00:14:51 But pause the pod, Jack, I'm no architect, but if there's going to be a grand public park in a grand train hall where... What's there right now, man? Madison Square Garden is there. So the only way this plan happens is if this famous basketball and hockey arena moves across the street to a giant vacant lot where the hotel Pennsylvania used to stand until it was recently demolished. That's the key. Nothing can change about the current Penn Station as long as MSG is squad and on top of it. And with the famous basketball and hockey arena out of the way, that would open up America's biggest development opportunity. Which leads me, Jack, to the paycheck. What is the cost? of this, where is the bill? How are we doing this? It's up there. The cost is estimated at

Starting point is 00:15:34 $7.5 billion for moving the arena and building the new station. Okay, but yeah, considering President Trump's administration just gave Argentina a $20 billion bailout, seven and a half billion feels like, you know, pocket change billions right here, man. Which leads to the interesting stock market angle here. And what is that? The winner, if this happens, is Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden, not on Madison Avenue, a circle not a square, and no guard. And no So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at MSG? In real estate, it's all about the veto. Yeties, America's law and order holds property right,

Starting point is 00:16:11 right up there with life and liberty as the most important thing. And Madison Square Garden Entertainment, the $7 billion publicly traded company, owns the arena that is blocking this megaproject. And only, only if they agree to move across the street, will the new Penn Station ever become a reality. That's why regardless of which developer and which plan gets chosen by Amtrak and the Trump White House, it will only happen if MSG Entertainment gets a humongous check, like billions of dollars.

Starting point is 00:16:41 And gets a brand new arena in the world's richest city and capital of live entertainment. MSGEE, as it's called, is already one of the greatest entertainment stocks. I mean, totally check. They own the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, and they're hosting Harry Styles for 30 shows this year, starting in May. But Madison Square Garden also owns the Vito. to renovate Penn Station. And that veto is very valuable. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week?

Starting point is 00:17:10 TikTok US is not owned by China anymore. It's owned by a consortium of mostly U.S. investors. Burger King asks, where's the beef? We're asking, where's the Algo? Because it's actually still in China. For our second story, Diet Coke is out, Coke zero is in. 99% same product, very different consumer reaction. Yeah, it's like the parent trap.

Starting point is 00:17:30 If brands or books, we very much read them by the cover. And our third and final story is Penn Station. It could finally get renovated, bringing it back to its old glory for $7.5 billion. But only if MSG agrees to move across the street, that veto is very, very, very valuable. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, perfect finale to dry January, Jack, Tom Holland, the Spider-Man actor, is now a British beer mogul. And so is his co-founder.

Starting point is 00:18:00 Yeti, fan of the pot, John Herman. His non-alcoholic beer brand, Beiro, just hit a $100 million evaluation. Beer, they had $10 million in sales in their first year. Now they're doing $30 million for fancy fake beer. Speaking of fancy, they've partnered with Aston Martin and Barry's boot camp. Non-alque beers, getting some sex appeal out there. Second, the United States Postal Service is hiring an agency

Starting point is 00:18:21 to try to glam up their image. According to Ad Age, it is a wild and wide-ranging opportunity, not just doing USPS ads, right, Jack? Newman! The Postal Service wants to emphasize how it uses AI and show that it works with rivals like Amazon. They even want you to redesign the post office lobby. They're looking for a mail in glam-up. Because when you control the mail, you control information.

Starting point is 00:18:47 And finally, the biggest winner from Davos is a small French sunglasses startup. That's right, because French President Emmanuel Macron had a sore eye, so he wore aviator-style glasses while giving speeches at the Davos events. Turns out they're made by Maison Henry Julian, a small French brand that sells them for 700 euros. And all that attention on the French president drove $4 million in sunglasses shade sales. Now time for the best fact yet. This one, because it's Monday, is T-boy trivia. Jack, you're the trivia master.

Starting point is 00:19:19 What do we got? It's about Madison Square Garden. Self-proclaimed nickname, right? What do they call it? The most glorious arena on the planet or something? It's the world's most famous arena, and I think you just got banned by James Dolan because of that, Jack. True. So Madison Square Garden, not on Madison Avenue.

Starting point is 00:19:33 It's not square and it is not a garden. But the question trivia here is, how many Madison Square Gardens have there been? This isn't the first or the second or the third. Nope. It's actually the fourth Madison Square Garden. That's right. Madison Square Garden has moved three times. This is the fourth and a new one would actually be the fifth MSG.

Starting point is 00:19:52 Get this. Before it moved to the current location, it was actually on 49th Street. It was uptown. It came downtown. I don't know 49th Street. Uptown. Yiddies, you are looking fantastic to kick off the week. Jack and I will be with you here every day to make you the most interesting person in the room.

Starting point is 00:20:09 But we also want to meet you in a room, don't we, Jack? Yes, we do. And we're coming to New York City on April 8th and to Washington, D.C. on March 11th. March 11th. We've already sold out our live shows in Austin and Los Angeles. We would love to see it in D.C. and New York. Grab your tickets. We got a link in the episode description.

Starting point is 00:20:28 And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Now, you know. And before we go, a happy birthday to Tariq Abiola, turning 8 years old in Milton, Ontario, the first son of Usman and Bimpay, Brother Otto, is pumped. Happy birthday to Ashita Swami, turning nine years old up in Lakeville, Minnesota. And Samantha C, happy birthday down in Santa Clarita, California. Happy birthday to Trevor Baldwin in Birmingham. And Austin Jacobs got the Big 32 down in San Jose.

Starting point is 00:20:58 Happy birthday to Caroline Mountain over in Sierra Leone. And Christy and Tim enjoy the anniversary celebrating in the first. the big OH Ohio. And a huge congratulations to Yanna Embry from Kiev, Ukraine, who got promoted to director of customer success and is moving to San Francisco. Yana, you're going to have a blast. And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a T-Bow. Celebrate the wins.

The Best One Yet - 🤝 “TikTaken” — TikTok (finally) sold. Diet Coke vs Coke Zero. Madison Square Garden 5.0. +Chimney Sweep Surge

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.