The Best One Yet - 💦 “Treadmill Night Club” — Barry’s Bootcamp goes for $1B. Harry Potter’s new full-cast audiobooks. T-Mobile’s Ryan Reynolds surge to #1.

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Audible is reproducing all Harry Potter books into audiobooks (again), but this time with a full ensemble voice cast (hollywood style) — Because the buckets of media have spilled into each other.Barry’s Bootcamp is trying to sell itself for at least $700M — Because nothing drives cash flow like a cult.And T-Mobile has gone from the joke #3 wireless company to the clear #1 — So we whipped up a case study on how they beat Verizon and AT&T.Plust, happy Cinco de Berkshire Gala Derby Weekend to all who celebrate (which is everyone).Subscribe to the best newsletter yet: tboypod.com/newsletter$PLNT $AMZN $TMUSWant 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. It's Friday, the real Friday. May the third be with you. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Jack, the 36-year streak continues, my friend.

A 36-year street. No cavities. 36 years and no cavities in my mouth. Jack, I went to the dentist yesterday, and they asked me to give them tips. The dental hygienist had me floss her. Dude, I know those front teeth have been knocked out, so you have an artificially enhanced mouth situation. Yeah, a couple of these are fake teeth.

It doesn't matter. No cavities on these puppies, Jack. Let me guess. That's the last bullet on your resume. When I floss, I groove with the gum, Jack. You got to groove with the gum. Yet these three fantastic stories. Jack and I whipped up for you today.

Jack, what's on today's T-boy? For our first story, Audible, is turning all seven Harry Potter books into Hollywood-style audio series with a full ensemble cast. Dumbledore is borrowing the same exact strategy as radio a hundred years ago. For our second story, it's T-Mobile. T-Mobile has gone from the bottom wireless company to the top,

so we whipped up a case study on how they did it. And it wasn't just Ryan Reynolds' chiseled little smile. And our third and final story is Barry's boot camp. Berries is trying to sell itself for $1 billion. Because nothing drives cash flow quite like a cult. A very hot cult. A very hot cult, I just want to point out. But, Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

What a fantastic mix of stories to go into a weekend with, Jack. Check your calendars right now. Check your date book, Yeties, because this is the biggest weekend of the year. The first weekend in May is wild. Oh, it's not just any weekend. The first weekend in May is a mega weekend. What are we talking about, Jack? Across sports, finance, food, and fashion.

Whatever part of society you're interested in, there's a huge event for you this weekend. For example, the 150th annual Kentucky Derby, it's this weekend. The oldest continually running sports event in the United States. Those horses have been drinking mint julep since 1874. This weekend, we also got Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo, more beers consumed during Cinco de Mayo than during the Super Bowl. And the guac is still extra. Make sure you're aware of that.

Oh, and the fashion industry, they've got their biggest event of the year, the Met Gallo. We didn't get an invite, but we're still dressing up for it. And what's our outfit theme, Jack? Podcast Cheek. Even Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway chose this weekend for the annual shareholder meeting. It's not Woodstock for Capitalists. We think it's Coachella for Capitalist. And it's Wall Street's ultimate investing festival. Oh, so Yet he's added all up. Forget Black Friday, forget Christmas, and forget Super Bowl weekend.

The first weekend in May is the biggest weekend of the year. Yet he's the first weekend in May is an economic force. This weekend is a GDP generator. So happy Cinco to Burr. Berkshire Gala Derby weekend. Happy Cinco to Berkshire Gala Derby weekend. To all those who celebrate. Which is everything.

It's everybody. It's all of us. All right, Jack, let's sit on 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 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Audible is redoing all seven Harry Potter audiobooks, but with an entire Hollywood-level production. But what Harry Potter is really doing is something radio did 100 years ago.

Jack, let's talk about lives changing because Daniel Radcliffe got cast as Harry Potter before puberty, and that changed his life forever, man. It was like 10 when he got cast for that role. Well, that changed his life as the star of Harry Potter. and that's about to happen again twice. We already told you last year that HBO Max is working on the first of eight new seasons of Harry Potter video series.

But get this. This week, Audible announced that they're reproducing all seven Harry Potter books into new audiobooks at a holy Hagrid level, Jack. But this time, the audiobooks won't be read

by one narrator, one Jim Dale. It'll be read by 100 different actors. 100 different actors. actors yet he's even headwig the owl is going to be getting a voice actor on this thing every character in the book is going to have its own voice actor yeah you're going to be able to feel the de mentors breathing through the speakers you'll hear the huffel puffs lagging behind the other houses lemos potter to jesus all are the great time at hogwoods i really hope ralph finds plays vol

oh sorry he who must not be named my bad yeah thank you thank you but yet he's the first book of Harry Potter is going to get a full cast reproduction as an audiobook starting in 2025. Yeah. So in 2025, 28 years after the first book was published, Harry Potter is hotter than ever. But yet he's, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. There's actually a technical name in the industry for this type of audiobook and it's called full cast audio. And get this, full cast audio actually goes all the way back to the 1930s. Boom, 1939. And Britain's BBC and America's ABC wanted to bring Sherlock Holmes books to the radio, the exciting medium at the time. So in 1939, they hired a bunch of voice actors and created what was called Theater of the Mind.

Ah, theater of the mind. The creation of a dramatic narrative experience through sound, sound, as we podcasters say, the most intimate of mediums. So they published over 300 episodes just for the radio. The books of Sherlock Holmes were presented over the radio waves nearly 100 years ago. So yet, that's what Jack and I kind of loved and thought was so fascinating here. What seems like a splashing new thing with Harry Potter? The full cast with cinematic music and audio effects. Is actually a media innovation that's nearly a century old? Not even the goblins of Gringots are impressed.

So Jack, what's the takiest away us for our buddies over at Harry Potter and Audible? The buckets of media have seen. spilled into each other. Yeah, it is full disclosure here. But Jack, Jack, you hate the words media and content, don't you? You hate those two words. What is media?

What is content? It's like technically everything. Unfortunately for you, Jack, this entire story is about media and content. Right. I'll suck it up and get through the rest of this takeaway, Nick. Because yet he's historically, media fell into three buckets. There was print, there was audio, and there was video. But technology and new distribution channels have spilled those types of media into one

another. Okay, for example, like if a podcast has video like we do, are we still a podcast? What's a difference between a video podcast and a talk show that's on TV? Or what if a movie is snipped and clipped into 38 TikTok posts? Is it still a movie? Is it a show? Is it a social media post? And if a book has a hundred actors performing it, is it still a book or is it a movie that happens to not have video? Or is it a podcast? And then what's a podcast? And then we start full circle again. Yeah, it is the old buckets of media tipped over. Content is one big melting pot of media now. And it's all flowing away from text toward video.

The more visual and more immersive, the more that content will be consumed. But for anyone interested in media, all the besties out there, curious about the media industry, remember this. The buckets of media have spilled into each other. For our second story, Jack and I are going full HBO. We whipped up a case study on T-Mobile, how T-Mobile went from the bottom to the top. How T-Mobile leapfrogged Verizon and AT&T to become the number one wireless company by far. Oh, Ryan Reynolds smile. What a smile. He starts the story because T-Mobile just closed the acquisition of MintMobile,

which is Ryan Reynolds Wireless Company yesterday. The Yeties, even though Ryan Reynolds is a fantastic actor with a great smile, Jack and I found an even better story about T-Mobile and what they're doing right now. Because Yetis, T-Mobile used to be the budget wireless. for people who couldn't afford AT&T or Verizon? Yeah, well, money was tight. I used T-Mobile for like a year and then didn't like the service,

so I went back to Verizon. But now the pink-branded wireless company, T-Mobile, is number one in the industry. So Jack and I were wondering this week, how did they do it? Yeties, in the past five years, T-Mobile stock has more than doubled. While Verizon and AT&T,

their stocks are both down 30% in the same period. Get this, T-Mobile is more profitable, has higher customer satisfaction, and now has a higher market cap valuation than Verizon or AT&T. Plus, T-Mobile has added more customers than Verizon and AT&T nine years in a row. Sit down, stand up, and hang up the phone. You gotta be wondering like we are, how did T-Mobile do it? Nick and I found two major reasons that T-Mobile went from the joke number three player in wireless

to the clear number one in wireless. Jack, let's whip out the whiteboard. Reason number one for T-Mobile's rise, what is it, man? Constraints breed creativity. We've said it before. Constraints breed creativity. And how did Team Mobile use that, Jack? In 2020, Team Mobile was slapped with a major constraint.

They acquired Sprint, which was a combination of the number three and number four wireless carriers. Now, T-Mobile and Sprint were going to be a new company. And to get government approval for that mega-merger, T-Mobile had to promise the government not to increase prices for three years. Okay, so, Yiddies, let this sink in. For three years, T-Mobile had this. brutal constraint. They couldn't raise prices. That's a pretty tough situation. Tough situation, especially during the three years of inflation we just got through. Everyone else was raising prices, but T-Mobile couldn't. And yet, even though their revenues had been

flat as a result, T-Mobile tripled their profits for some unbelievable reason why. So we got to ask, how did T-Mobile triple their profits with such a brutal constraint as being banned from raising prices? Well, when it came to that constraint, T-Mobile got creative. First, to win new customers, T-Mobile added satellite coverage in cellular dead zones in a partnership with SpaceX. Then T-Mobile added perks by adding Netflix, Apple TV, and Hulu. All included free with a T-Mobile plan. And then T-Mobile upped their customer service so you can stop shouting... Representative!

Into your phone that's not working. And that investment in customer service resulted in a crazy low churn rate. Less than 1% of T-Mobile customers leave T-Mobile each year. But Vasties, T-Mobile didn't just get created. on the services side, they also got creative on the cost side. Since 2020, they've cut their operating costs by $9 billion per year. So All-Lup and T-Mobile has been constrained by their deal with the U.S. government, but they've gotten creative.

That creativity added new customers, it kept old customers, and it cut costs. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at T-Mobile? Don't get distracted by the distractions. Funny thing happened to wireless companies, like in the me. 20 teens. They all wanted to go Hollywood. AT&T and Verizon both made disastrous acquisitions to try to get into media and Hollywood. First, AT&T acquired Time Warner and direct TV. And it's since sold both of those companies for huge losses. And then Verizon acquired Yahoo and AOL. They've also sold both of those companies for big losses too. But on the other hand, T-Mobile did the opposite.

T-Mobile didn't try to go Hollywood. T-Mobile focused on the industry that they're in. Team Mobile acquired Sprint, and now it's acquiring Mint Mobile, both wireless companies. So what we're saying is that while their competition spent all this money on distracting random businesses, T-Mobile stayed focused on their own industry. So how did T-Mobile go from the bottom to the top? First, constraints breed of creativity. But then they didn't get distracted by the distractions.

Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story of the week. One, two, three, Barry's boot camp is hoping for its biggest workout ever. Berries is trying to sell itself for a billion dollars. 101, 1002, 1003. But if we're going to talk about berries, we need to talk about the business of cults. Jack, to jump in T-boy style to this story, I just booked the class Saturday morning, 8.40 a.m. in the marina with Ali E. It's a tough class.

You're going to be surrounded by spandex and sweat. Oh, that's San Francisco Marina location, dude. That is a hot mess, baby. But yet he's Barry's. It is a nightclub with dumbbells. Barry's boot camp is a boutique fitness studio full of red lights, treadmills, and pounding diplo music. Honestly, you go to Barry's.

It feels like a Berlin discotheca, and everyone is wearing a black sports bra. The only difference with the discotheca, no Velcro. True. True. Barry says they invented the hit workout. High intensity interval training. What does that look like exactly, Jack?

Five minutes on the treadmill, five minutes using weights, five minutes on the floor, 10 minutes of being yelled at. Yet he's been here to Barry's. The instructor has seven calf tats, 14 abs, and may or may not have been on The Bachelor. They're going to tell you their inspirational origin story about how they got where they are. But here's the origin of Barry's boot camp. Berries was actually founded back in 1998 in West Hollywood. So Jack, ironically, Berries is a lot like it's average.

customer. 26, rich and from LA. Yes, exactly. And founder Barry Jay, who started the company, had no military background. Interestingly, he just decked out the gym and camo and it blew up from there. And he called it a boot camp, even though he didn't go to boot camp. Brands are all about the vibe. But yet he's here's the news and this is fascinating. Berries has hired investment bankers because they want to sell the company. Barry's tried to sell itself in 2019 for $700 million, but this time, Barry's wants even more. the price tag for Berries at a clean nine digits. One billion dollars. But yet he's, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Since the pandemic, we've noticed that the survivor companies

in certain industries have only gotten stronger. Because the pandemic sent revenues and fitness to zero. Because panting in a gym inches from your neighbor's butt, that was not CDC approved. But now Barry's is setting personal records in the fitness industry. Jack, what kind of numbers we're talking about? Berries has opened 26 studios since the pandemic began. Plus, they launched their own spin studio that looks just like Solcycle. Oh, and whip out the whiteboard because the financials on Berries are looking pretty buff too. Revenues jumped 27% last year, and every single Barry's location is profitable on its own. Sit down, stand up, and give me 20.

And get this, yeties. 140,000 sweaty humans attend a Barry's class at least once a week. And two-thirds of those Barry's members are women. Now, Jack, what's the point? price at one of those 50-minute classes that you used to do and that I've got coming up in like 24 hours? I used to attend the berries at Swanky Stanford Shopping Center. One class is $37. But then Jack, Barry's subscriptified their business. And how much can you pay for a monthly membership to Barry's? They have a global membership for jet setters. Because there's a berries in like every

high-end city. It's $500 a month. 500 bucks a month. And no, that does not include the flaxseed smoothies. And guess this, it also doesn't include the Hampton's location, which I guess has its own membership. But Yetis, those numbers are big. They're impressive. They are strong. And they're the reason why the big money wants in on Barry's. Barry's two biggest investors are private equity firms who hope to sell the company right now to an even bigger private equity firm. And the interesting thing, Jack and I notice is that private equity firms are really into boutique fitness these days. Equinox, SoulCycle, Orange Theory. They're all. Boutique Fitness Studios, and they're all majority owned by private equity.

So Jack and I have got to know what is the core part of Barry's business model that these financial firms just love. It's not a tabata. It's a takeaway. I like what you did there. Now, get on that treadmill. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Barry's? Nothing drives cash flow like a cult.

Now, I guess first of all, Jack and I should point out, cults have a bad reputation. But the definition of a cult is actually very straightforward. and fair. If you read the definition of cult, it feels like society's giving it a bad rap, actually. The Dictionary.com definition of a cult is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. Cult is how the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, even Barry's members describe Barry's boot camp. Preserving that cult status is actually critical to Barry's entire business. Because Barry's only has 84 locations. But Planet Fitness has 2,500 locations.

Berries charges $37 per class. But Planet Fitness charges just $10 per a month. So for Berries to command the highest pricing power and have so few locations. Well, Berries need loyalty beyond reason. It needs a religious level of devotion. It needs a cult. That is why Berries has 3 a.m. at the club atmosphere. That is why instructors give TED Talks mid-workout.

And that is why I'm going to be there at like 7 in the morning, ripping on my shirt apparently tomorrow, Jack. Colt like following, that's an asset that every brand wants to have. And that is the reason Barry's is putting a $1 billion price tag on itself. A thousand and one. A thousand and two. A thousand and three. Jack, you're looking fantastic over there. And can you whip up the takeaways for us to head into the weekend? Audible, which is owned by Amazon, is reproducing Harry Potter into all new audiobooks with a different voice actor for each character in the book.

And we got to ask, is this a book? Is this a podcast? Is this a movie? Is it a shmovie? Yeties, the buckets of media have spilled over into each other. For our second story, it's T-Mobile. They've rocketed to number one in wireless in just a few years, so we whipped up a case study on how they did it. Constraints breeded creativity, and they didn't get distracted by Hollywood distractions. And our third and final story was Barry's boot camp. They've hired bankers to look for a buyer, hoping to get over $700 million. Because nothing drives cash flow like a cult. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

First, Apple just announced poor earnings. iPhone sales dropped 10% compared to last year. But Apple said sorry to investors by paying them. Apple is doing a $110 billion stock buyback. Apple's going to drop $110 billion of its own cash to buy its own stock, so Apple shares jump 7%. The stock buyback. It's a way to juice up yourself. And second, universal music. Music just announced a new licensing deal with TikTok. The months-long musical boycott between the record label and TikTok is over. So, yeah, it is, you can now play Taylor Swift in your TikTok videos and not get sued like Napster.

And finally, Peloton is laying off 15% of their workers, and they've said that their CEO is stepping down. Yeah, CEO Barry McCarthy had worked at Spotify and Netflix, but he couldn't turn around Peloton. Pelot stock fell in the depressing news. And yeah, Nick and I still own it. We're here for the ride. We're here for the ride. I honestly want to see what happens if your stock goes to zero. I'm curious.

We're like our own guinea pigs. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me, because like we said, this weekend is the biggest weekend of the year. This one's wild. There's been no significant change in the speed of the horses that run in the Kentucky Derby. Since 1960, they've run the same speed. The Kentucky Derby has been happening for 150 years. And since 1960, the average horse winner has been basically the same speed.

the average Kentucky Derby winner in the 2010s was a tad slower than the average winner from the 60s. The record holder for the Kentucky Derby was Secretariat who set the record back in 1973. And that record still holds 50 years later. So while the world record for human person marathon runners was actually set just last year, horses have been fallen. Dude, idea for Nike to get its mojo back? Running shoes for horses. Nike, jump on the horses shoes.

We're all over this for you. Get back on the horse shoes. figuratively. Phil Knight. Let's get you on the saddle. Literally. Yeties, you look. Fantastic going into the weekend.

And Jack, you were glowing this week. Nicholas, in two months, you're coming to Vermont, right? I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to see it. I'm already planning the itinerary. Oh, it's going to be great. We're going to Ben and Jerry's. Naturally.

We're going to have some fresh milked milk. Naturally. What else are going to do? I'll give it a secret fight. I don't want to spoil it. A lot of natural stuff. Yeties, whatever you do this week, remember. Celebrate the winds going into this.

weekend. Oh, and also, you got to subscribe to our weekly Saturday newsletter. Subscribe at T-boypod.com slash newsletter. We'll click the link in the episode description. A lot of what's in the newsletter isn't on the pod, so we know you're going to love the newsletter. May the third be with you. Groove those gums. Don't get any cavities. Jack and I will see you Monday. Before we go, congratulations to Yeti's Gian Prana down the street in San Francisco, who are expecting their very first baby in August 2024. And guess what? You ready for this? It's a girl. It's a tea girl.

And Brian Ryder over in Cleveland just got his appendix taken out. And honestly, he's never felt better. He's looking great too. Congratulations to Kelsey and Corbyn Black, who are getting married in Flugerville, Texas. Kelsey and Corbyn, legendary Yetis, congratulations and tie in the knot. Kelsey, the owner of the coolest, weirdest, bookstore in the Lone Star State. And Justin Ryan and Leslie Beckham are taking a Tesla road trip to visit their dad.

Enjoy those superchargers. Congratulations to Risa Diaz, who's graduating from Columbia Business School. this month. And Jack, her boyfriend, Scott, moved to New York City for her while he was in the Navy not too shabby. Thank you for all that service, Scott. And good luck to Jackie Rossi in New Haven, Connecticut, who is going to nail that algebra final today. And Rebecca H. also is going to crush something today. It's her pickleball season opening tournament. And a big shout-out to Alec Greenspan, a Yetty we met at Blue Bottle in San Francisco, who just got laid off from Tesla. Yeah, but let us tell you, Yetis, Alec Greenspan is a legendary hire. You want this man working

at your company, he's incredible. This guy ain't no autopilot. This guy drives, baby. And a happy birthday to Bestie Oliver Beer, who's turning three years old in Des Moines, Iowa, and already owns Apple stock. And he's already up. He's already up.

He's up 7% actually. Apple jumped 7% after hours. And Luciana Garcia's happy birthday. Enjoy the 26th with some Cevice in Lima, Peru. Happy birthday to Emily Erickson in Detroit, Michigan. And Morgan Dodge is turning 19 in Jackson, Michigan, hanging with her guinea pigs for the party. Happy 25th birthday to Kat Elliott in New York City.

And Max Chancy and lovely Los Angeles, enjoy the birthday. Happy birthday to Zach V in San Diego, California. And Mina is celebrating 30 years old in Toronto, feeling flirty and thriving right now. Happy birthday to Sae in Duncan'sville, Pennsylvania. And Lily Say in Monroe, Louisiana, has never seen Star Wars, but was born on May the 4th. Lily, we know you're in Houston now. It's time to watch some Star Wars. And Chin Chiaozang, happy 30th birthday down in Austin, Texas.

Happy 35th birthday to Jose Carlos Alonso in Southgate, California. And Olivia Stanley in Westport, Connecticut is celebrating her birthday in the most delicious way possible. At a pizza party, if you know. This is Jack. I'm in stock of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and Netflix. Nick's son owns stock of Nike in his 529 savings account. And Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Spotify.