The Best One Yet - 🧃 “Vending Machine Millionaire” — The Passive Income side-hustle. Who should acquire TikTok? And Dick’s Sporting Goods surge.

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

The Senate is expected to vote on forcing TikTok to sell itself… or get banned — So we’re asking: Who should buy TikTok?Dick’s Sporting Goods stock is at an all time high thanks to their “House of Sports” megastores — We think Dick’s should add free agent Under Armour to its roster.And the hot new side-hustle? Vending Machines — We’re breaking down the passive income beauty of operating your own vending machine. $UA $JPM $DKSSubscribe 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 18th. 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. Ladies, I've had that surprise pod.

Jack and I dropped in you on Friday. What do you think about that, Jack? T-Boy Hotline, episode one, it was about 50 minutes. I had a blast recording that episode with you, Nick. That was incredible. We needed lozenges and, like, three cups of tea after that thing. It was a lot of chatter, man. Yides, we hope you enjoyed that new format.

and we would love to hear your feedback. If you loved it, let us know. If you hated it, let us know. We want the second episode of Teaboy Hotline to be the best one yet, yeah. Jack, three stories though for today's show. What do we got, man? For our first story, the House of Representatives voted last week to force China to sell TikTok where TikTok gets banned in the U.S.

This week, the Senate votes for the same thing. So Jack and I want to play a fun little game with you. Who could acquire TikTok? For our second story, guess who stock is adding all? time high. Dick's sporting good stock is at an all time high. Because you're doing a little less PlayStation and a lot more play ball. And our third and final story, there's an exciting new side hustle we have to tell you about. People are operating vending machines on the side to make money. Yeti's people are becoming vending machine entrepreneurs. They're stock in those machines

and they're taking stock in those machines. We've got the economics of the chip drop and so to sell in granola grabbing vending machine. before we hit that wonderful mix. A wild mix to kick off the week. Love the mix, Jack. Last week, Nick and I did so much travel. Jack, we flew to New York, and then, like, you flew to Canada until I do some skiing. And then I jumped down to L.A. with Molly for a fun little weekend.

We were like, it was Miles, baby, Miles. Funny thing Nick and I noticed in our eight combined visits to the airport last week. Three words, three S's. Self-service security. Here's the news. The Department of Homeland Security just to... announced, they're testing out self-service TSA security checkpoint. Yeah, this yet is you can now get through TSA airport security without any people. Now, here's what it's going to look like. You're still

going to have to take your shoes off, okay? But no one's going to be yelling, take your shoes off. You're still going to have to remove your laptop and any other electronic devices from your bag. But no one's going to remind you about your six iPads and the confusing podcast equipment you're trying to get through. You still have to drink whatever's in your bottle or throw it away. It's a shampoo. I don't care. Consume it now. So this test kicks off this month at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Fortunately for all the TSA agents we know and love all 50,000 of them, none of them are apparently going to lose their job.

Which is great news. Because those federal agents are protecting us in the skies. But they are now going to use robots to do what humans do. They're going to use a futuristic MRI-like machine that scans everything and self-sanitizing bins using UV technology, apparently. It's kind of like a self-checkout of a grocery store, but instead of lettuce and beans, it's luggage and bags. Jack, this is the biggest innovation in air travel since SkyMall magazine. Now, the obvious goal of this test is to see if we can shorten the TSA security lines.

The secondary goal of this test is to reduce the amount of yelling going both ways. But we should warn you, only TSA pre-check is eligible, so get pre-checked. And we also should warn you, we still have no idea if peanut butter is considered a solid or a liquid. But yet is, if you're in Las Vegas and you're going through this once-in-a-lifetime self-reacted, security checkout situation. Send us a picture, send us a video. Because there's no human there to stop you from recording the whole thing. Your secret safe with us.

We know what you're thinking. Who's going to pat you down? We have no idea who's going to pat you down. Self pat downs, Jack, are the best pat downs. That's what I three stars. 15 years before this song. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm.

It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. 50%. That's a fat. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know you know cause 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. Last week, the House passed a bill requiring TikTok to sell itself or be banned. This week, the Senate could make that bill official. Which leads to maybe the biggest question of the year, and what is it, Jack? Who should acquire TikTok? Yeah, before we jump in, T-Bois style to this story, can you take us back four years? I'm getting like deja vu vibes, man. Four years ago, we were wondering the same exact thing.

Who should acquire TikTok? Because four years ago, then President Trump attempted to force a sale of TikTok, but it never ended up happening. Now that Joe Biden is president, it may actually happen because he supports a bill that just passed the House. And it's all moving quickly from last week because the House voted overwhelmingly to force China's bite dance to sell TikTok or be banned. the Senate will probably vote the same thing. If the Senate votes yes, President Biden has said he will sign it into law. Now, besties, we should point out there's no guarantee that this bill passes, even though it does have bipartisan support. Remember, TikTok can be a little too lit to prohibit. But even if it does get passed and become law, China may not sell it. China may think to themselves,

I'd rather see TikTok die than let America own TikTok. Even though China bans Facebook and our other media companies, just saying, just saying. Every American tech. product is banned in China. Even Stevens is what we're saying, Mr. Shee. So still, Yetis, the most interesting question of the year is this. If TikTok does get sold, who should be the buyer? Jack, this is kind of like The Bachelor, but it's the entire company, not just Jesse Palmer. And TikTok is the most eligible Bachelor anybody's seen in the corporate world. That is quite a rose, TikTok. That is quite a rose. TikTok has 170 million U.S. users. Those users love of using TikTok. And that's why it's worth a reported $100 billion.

So, Jack, if we're going to play this little dating game of matching up TikTok, how about we start with a process of elimination? Who won't buy TikTok? Jack and I were thinking, and the one group we know will not buy TikTok is big tech. Microsoft, meta, Amazon, they've already been attacked by the government as being too big. There's no way the government lets them acquire TikTok. Oh, the lawyers over at Amazon, they are laughing right now, Jack. How about billionaires? Will some famous, extravagant billionaire acquire TikTok?

I like that you exhausted all the adjectives there, Jack. Well, a billionaire like Jeff Bezos, he's just hanging out of Miami right now. He could buy TikTok and turn it like into Jeff talk. But Bezos is probably looking at what Elon's doing with Twitter and thinking to himself, no thank you. Not interested in that headache. I'd rather buy an amusement park in a couple newspapers. How about a random odd couple that could acquire TikTok? Two firms teaming up could share the challenge of acquiring a company like TikTok. And that's what almost happened four years ago. Four years ago, Oracle and Walmart made a joint bid to acquire TikTok. It was a software company and a commerce company taken over a social media company. But yet is after Jack and I

built out our entire whiteboard on this, we think the most likely outcome is the most boring outcome. We think private equity is going to acquire TikTok. Basically, a bunch of NBA grads are going to turn TikTok into their profit puppy and have it hang around in Midtown Manhattan. Here's why we think so. Last week, former Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, who worked under the Trump administration, he said he's putting together an investor group of billionaires to acquire TikTok. Oh, and the founder of Activision Blizzard also put together a bunch of investors who also got together on a golf course and also decided they want to buy TikTok.

You and your buddies have a dream of like putting money together to buy a beach house. These billionaires have a dream of putting their money together to buy TikTok. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are wondering who could acquire TikTok? We think it's the dark horse candidate. We think J.P. Morgan Chase should acquire TikTok. All right, Jamie, we know you're listening. And here's what we think you should do. Financially, J.P. Morgan is a $550 billion company that could afford TikTok,

and they're better than anyone else are getting loans. If they need to mortgage this, they can mortgage it. They're a bank. Yeah, J.P. Morgan Chase, they're America's biggest bank. their deposits are at an all-time high and their stock is at an all-time high. Strategically, this also lines up because J.P. Morgan has acquired media companies before. J.P. Morgan acquired the restaurant review website, the infatuation, so J.P. Morgan can handle a media company. How about politics? While CEO Jamie Diamond has actually defended America's relations with China many times and has defended TikTok many times.

Oh, in fact, we discovered that TikTok is already a J.P. Morgan client. Jamie personally approved them being a client. And there's a whole bunch of benefits to JPMorgan Chase if they own TikTok. JP could win the hearts of Gen Z and build a peer-to-peer payments platform into TikTok. This bank has 5,000 brick-and-mortar branches already. If they own TikTok, they have 170 million digital branches on people's phone. Jack, what better way for a consumer bank to connect with an actual consumer? JP Morgan Chase, it would be elegantly uncontroversial as a buyer of TikTok,

and there'd be no antitrust issues like with Big Tech. Yet it is still early stage. It is fun to brainstorm the possibilities, and we take them seriously. So if you've got some surprising ones, hit us up at T-Boy Pot. And let us know if you think we'll be debating the same thing in four years because it doesn't end up getting banned at all, which is perfectly possible. For our second story, Dick's Sporting Goods is living its best life right now. The stock's at an all-time high.

It's up 15% last Thursday. Dix is defying e-commerce, but there's one thing missing from their team. Jack, strap on the shingards. Can we talk about our go-to childhood sports stores? Who you got? Where were you getting those rolling baseball mitts, man? My brothers and me, when we got to go to the Sports Authority at the Holyoke Mall, which we had to drive an hour to get to, it was like heaven.

I would go to Models because you got to go to Moes or Crosshound Sports. That's where I got my first Mark Messier hockey helmet on the Upper East Side. Unfortunately, all of those big box sporting goods stores, Nick and I just mentioned, they all went bankrupt. Except for Dix. And Dix is like the opposite of bankrupt right now. Dick's sporting goods revenue is now 50% higher than it was before the pandemic. In the pandemic, you went outside so you buy yourself a sixth pick a ball paddle.

So Dix's 855 locations are now cranking out 50% more business than they did five years ago. On their earnings calls, Dix calls their customers as athletes. And they've got 160 million of them on the roster. And now they got locations in like 47 states. And Dick's stock today is nearly five times higher than the Dix's. day before the pandemic. But yet he's Jack and I grabbed the mouthguards, jumped in T-boy style. And we noticed in Dick's earnings, the crown jewel of their stores isn't really their stores. It's their megastores. Specifically, their store concept called House of Sport.

Yeah, the House of Sport. This is Dick's multi-sport experiential store. It's like a castle of athletics. In 2022, Dix made their regular stores look JV by launching Dick's House of Sports. Okay, this is a 50,000 square foot store that's part-reaching. tell um part athletic Disney world. Each one of these stores has all the stuff you can buy in a regular dick store. But there's also an entire turf athletic field where you can try out the cleats you're thinking about buying. One second, Jack, while I kick a ball into the soccer neck from midfield in the store. Trying on the cleats you're thinking about buying. Or you can then test out the baseball bat in the full-size professional baseball batting cage. Or whack the seven iron in the virtual driving range.

That's also in the store. It is a corporate coliseum of crushing. calories, man. There's a rock climbing wall. There's an ice skating rink. There's even a whole section for Peloton equipment so you can try out that bike and probably not end up buying it. Yeties, there are only 12 of these Dix giant arena so far, but they're planning 100 of them by 2027. We're going to have 100 of these massive houses of sport in just three years from now. And that's the shocker, Yeties. That is how Dix is being in Amazon and defying e-commerce. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Dix? Dix should now. acquire Under Armour.

All right, Eddie, that's our second acquisition idea of the day. Jack and I don't do that this often, but like we spent the whole weekend brainstorming. And sometimes you just got to roll with it, right, Jack? We're in our acquisition error. Yeah, because Under Armour was once a mighty upstart that was threatening Nike and threatening Adidas. But last week, Under Armour made their second CEO changed in 14 months. And Under Armour's stock, it's now down 90% from their 2015 all-time high. Will you protect this house?

Under Armour won't. What house, Yetis with of $18 billion valuation, Dix could now afford to buy $3 billion under armor. Dix is worth six times more than Under Armour is. Plus, Dix already sells over 3,000 Under Armour products in their stores, so they may as well take a full cut. And look, Dix already acquired Moose Jaw last year, so clearly Dix is interested in owning their own brands.

Besties, Under Armour is basically the free agent no one wants. So Dix should throw them on the roster. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the viral new investment right now, it isn't Bitcoin and it isn't AMC. It's actually the vending machine. People are buying vending machines and operating those vending machines as side hustles. Jack, before we tell this story, we got to whip up like the best fact we discovered

about vending machines. What country has the most vending machines per capita? Japan. By far. They have one vending machine for every 25 Japanese people. When we were in Tokyo last year, I saw a vending machine for burgers, a vending machine for beer, and a vending machine for get this canned bread. How do they check IDs for the beer vending machine? I think it's honor system. Really? Wow. Don't quote me on that. But yeties, according to the Wall Street Journal,

America has the most vending machines overall. Three million vending machines are operating in America right now. First one invented back in the 1880s, and frankly, the vending. machine technology hasn't changed that much since then. Just like 140 years ago, you still press G7 to get that checks mix. Just like 100 years ago, your funions are stuck on a coil. And Jack, there is a vending machine of Chelsea Pierce that has like a Twix bar that I lost in there in 1996. I got to get that back. But vending machines today have never been hotter. It's a vending machine renaissance because local entrepreneurs are buying vending machines in record numbers right now.

And one of those entrepreneurs got to eat that twixt. bar for free, the one that Nick paid for 12 years ago. Yeah, you probably like smack that vending machine on the side. If you hit it on the left, it falls out. Now, Nick and I want to talk about the fascinating economics of vending machines. Because the fascinating economics of the vending machine is the art of passive income. Here's how the business works. You can buy a used vending machine for $1,500, according to one vending machine entrepreneur. It turns out the average vending machine nationwide makes about $250 a month in profit every month. So if you buy a vending machine, you vending machine and operate that vending machine, you're going to break even on your investment in just

six months. And interestingly, this vending machine entrepreneur, Jamie Ibanez, tells us on YouTube exactly how these economics work and the numbers are curious. Mr. Obanjews says the revenues can be big because he fills his vending machines each week with bulk snacks that he bought himself at Costco. That's right. Your vending machine may be filled with Costco products. And apparently, like, the typical vending machine over marks them up by $100.

So Jamie Abagnas buys $1 Costco Snickers, but then sells them in his vending machine for $2 each. And these customers, us, we are willing to pay a markup. That is the premium we pay for the convenience of the vending machine. And the costs of operating a vending machine are shockingly small. Because a vending machine eliminates like two of the biggest costs associated with most businesses. There's no labor required and there's no rent associated with running a vending machine. Basically, you have to walk into a store and convince like the librarian if you can put a vending in there, and typically they don't charge you to leave a vending machine there.

They let you put a vending machine on the premises because it's good for customers. Then all you got to do is keep that thing stocked with Dr. Pepper, and frankly, it's a pretty high margin, 100% margin business, Jack. Not the sexiest industry, but vending machine management offers pretty decent passive income. Vending machines, they're a shocking profit puppy. $1,500 upfront investment turns into $250 a month in profits? That's not bad. Even though it won't accept your $5 crunkled up bill, that's a pretty good business, Jack.

Do you want to do this with me, Nick? The best vending machine, yeah. So, Jack, could you press J7 and grab me a snapple and then whip up the takeaway for our buddies launching vending machines? Find a way to make money while you sleep. Yeties, in this economy, we've seen an explosion of side hustles. Like maybe you launched a newsletter over on Substack. But for many, a side hustle is a gig job, like driving for Uber or delivering food for DoorDash. But increasingly, these side gig jobs, they demand more and more of your most precious resources, your time and your body.

That's why we're seeing a surge of interest in passive income opportunities, income opportunities that don't require your active involvement. And get this, comments on X and Instagram mentioning the words passive income are up 3x and 6x since 2019. And that reminds us of a Warren Buffett quote, highlighting the glory of passive income. Here's the quote. If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you'll work till you die. Warren's favorite type of passive income is owning stocks. But if you're willing to do a little more work, you could operate a vending machine too. Now, full disclosure, Jack and I don't make money while we sleep.

Like, we produce a new podcast every day, but we love doing that. We love our work of it. But it's not a passive exercise, isn't it, Jack? It's very active work. But Nick, now that active income opportunities are physically harder than ever for many, passive income is hot again. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? The Senate is expected to vote on the House's bill to force TikTok to sell itself.

A lot of companies could buy TikTok. We think J.P. Morgan Chase should buy TikTok. For our second story, Dick's sporting good stock has more than quadrupled since their pre-pendemic levels. Under Arm is a free agent. and Dix should put them on the roster. And our third and final story, a vending machine can be bought used for $1,500 and then bring home $250 a month in profits. It's passive income, or as Warren Buffett would put it, you can make money while you sleep.

But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Morgan Stanley just created a new head of artificial intelligence. They have an entire AI division now. Because there's nothing banks like doing more than pretending their tech companies. And second, yet he's remember when Jack and I did a full podcast episode in a San Francisco Robotaxie like a week ago? Well, that fleet of Robotaxies is expanding. Waymo, the Robotaxie company owned by Google, just launched in its third city in Los Angeles.

And is now testing in its fourth city. And finally, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a new bill to enact a four-day work week. Or as Senator Sanders says, moving to a 32-hour work week with no loss of pay is not a radical idea. That was amazing. Or is Jack and I like to rebrand it? The three-day weekend. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Dylan Steinfeldt from lovely Atlanta, Georgia.

We have just experienced the greatest comeback in airport history. Eddies, we were talking about LaGuardia Airport in New York City, which Jack actually flew out of just a couple days ago. It was once ranked dead last worst airport in America. When Joe Biden was the vice president, he famously called LaGuardia like a third world country. After an $8 billion transformation and a reopening last year, that same airport poll now ranks LaGuardia the number one airport in America.

That's right. LGA has gone from the worst airport in America to the best airport in America. And how was your experience at LGA the other day, Jack? Honestly, gorgeous. I had a suitcase with four wheels and I rolled it like pretty far. It was the smoothest roll you can imagine. No bumps, a lot of nice fountains. I think I passed a yoga room and a maternity lounge.

It feels very Cinderella. Last time I was Eligordia, I saw someone scrubbing the turnstiles with the toothbrush. You did it. You did not see that. It was crest. Yeties, you look fantastic right now. And if you want to get in on Jackson, my vending machine operation, just hit us up at T-boy Pye. We actually need some, we need to fill this thing with inventory, right, Jack?

Actually, go to gofundby.com. the best vending machine yet. And if you found that Twix bar at Chelsea Pierce, send it our way. Actually, you know what? Enjoy it. Enjoy it. We need to learn to let go, Jack. Yetis H-Y-H-T-B-O-I.

That's how we grow the show. Have you had the best one to ask your buddies so we can grow the show? If you know, you know. And before we go, congratulations to our buddy Yeties, Lucy and Peter Minut in San Francisco, who just welcomed their baby boy Wilson. We heard Mary and Luke set up a nice. little nursery for little baby Wilson. And congratulations to Matt Clark from Virginia who just finished a half marathon up in Napa,

not too shabby. Congratulations to Kathleen Wong and Kyle Succo, who just finished running a marathon. And a happy birthday to Noon-Tunes, who's celebrating by trading some stocks over in New York City. And happy 29th birthday to Zach Steinfeld in Atlanta, Georgia. And Chang Junle is turning 25 in Boston and can finally rent a car to go just outside Boston. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb, Apple, and Peloton. And we both own one Bitcoin.