The Best One Yet - 🫶 “We’re official” — Bumble’s relationship acquisition. TikTok’s Montana ban. Capital One’s Warren Buffett.

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Bumble’s newest acquisition isn’t a dating app, it’s a relationship app — because Bumble’s tired of being one-and-done. TikTok just got banned in Montana, but can Montana really ban TikTok? And Warren Buffett just put $1B on a credit card — Literally. Warren’s betting on Capital One stock.This week’s quiz: go.tboypod.com $BMBL $COF $AMEXWant 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 YoutubeLearn 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. It's Friday, the real Friday, May 19th. And today's pod is absolutely the best one yet. It is T-boy, Jack. For a second day in a row, Stacks jumped on hopes for a debt ceiling deal. Not too shabby-Yettys.

We'll take it, Jack. That could be a win to celebrate. I'm celebrating right now. All right, what's our first story for the show? Montana is the first U.S. state to completely ban TikTok. But can Montana completely ban TikTok? That's the question. For our second story, Bumble, just made its first acquisition of the year. But it's not for singles. It's for couples. And our third and final story is Warren Buffett. He just spent $1 billion on a credit card company, a credit card company.

Yeah, because Warren Buffett thinks there's something different about Capital One. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic mix of stories. A beautiful, lovely mix of stories for a Friday. There's two types of people in this world. Yeties, there are those who get mosquito bites, and then there are those who don't get mosquito bites. Put me in the former, not the latter. We just found out what actually attracts mosquitoes to our bodies. Now we know the real reason behind all those bug bites, buddy, Timmy. And guess what?

It's not your blood and it's not your body either. Get this. It's actually your soap. According to the journal, I Science, the soap you rub on your body in the shower helps determine whether mosquitoes will bite you or not. Now, besties, we know what you're thinking. over there, don't we, Jack? You might be thinking that washing up your body good in the shower disguises you and your scent. I smell like a lovely forest rose. How could any bug bite me, Jack? Yeah, you can now walk down mosquito alley invisible to the bugs because you smell so good.

Well, it turns out it's actually the exact opposite of that. This study shows that the soap attracts mosquitoes. There's nothing the mosquitoes like more than your soapy-sadsy body. And it turns out the sweeter your soap, the more motivated the mosquitoes. Turns out, the fruityer you, you're, you're not. It turns out the fruityer you, your body wash, the more your body's getting washed with bites. So that dove vanilla bar soap you use? That is a mosquito magnet, Jack. The Garnier Fluktes, blueberry shampoo you put in your scalp.

You are begging for bites, my friend. Burble essence is, Nick. I got the urge for an itching, baby. Remember the urge for herbal? Those are great ads. I like those ads. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are the half of us who keep on getting mosquito bites?

If you don't want mosquito bites, just stop showering. Yeah, the body odor. its nature is natural repellent. It repels bugs, and it repels Bianca too. Yet he's more stinking, less itching. Jack, let's hit 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 best one yet, but the best is a norm. 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. For our first story, Montana.

is the first U.S. state to completely ban TikTok. Like, not just on government devices. No one can use TikTok in Montana. Nata. You can't do it. Sorry, Ben. Which brings up an existential question. You can ban TikTok, but can TikTok actually be banned? It is a good question. So yet he's Governor John Dutton in Montana.

He doesn't use TikTok. He lassoes. And he just decided that Montanaans shouldn't use TikTok either. Beth, no more TikTok unless you're. Stop drinking whiskey. I'm sorry. On Wednesday, this week, the great state of Montana did it. The House, the Senate, and the governor stitched together their final TikTok video. Honestly, this is unprecedented. There's no precedent, baby.

This is the first law to completely ban TikTok for everyone. Yes. Now, we should point out this is in Montana only, and it's effective January 2024. But it is still something we've not seen in any U.S. state. But if you're TikTok and in Bozeman right now, you're good for another seven months. You got it, baby. Keep on scrolling. And this ban, it's not based on something China has done. It's based on something China could do.

Exactly. We've talked about this before. The Trojan horse fear, right, Jack? China could use Americans' personal data from TikTok to target Americans with propaganda videos. You know, a little misinformation karaoke, right, Jack? A little misinformation karaoke. I think that should be a trend of thing. It should be a thing. It's like Ceviche Wednesday.

It's up there. It's up there. Now, yeties, before you shed a tear for your TikTok follow. account, you might be wondering, is it even possible for like a governor to ban an app on your phone? We know what you're thinking. Like, is it physically even capable of banning this TikTok app? It's everywhere. Is it technically feasible? Jack and I decided to get specific. Jack, let's talk about the crime. What's actually the crime here in Montana? The new law says that you may not offer the downloading of the TikTok app. Okay, so interestingly, this law doesn't ban using TikTok.

That's right. If you're in Montana and you find a way to get TikTok on your phone, you can use it and that's not illegal. But it does ban the dealing of TikTok. Right. This law would make criminals out of Apple and Google because they control the app stores and they offer the downloads. So, Bessies, what we're saying here is that instead of targeting one million human being users, this law is targeting the two companies that deal the TikTok. Yes, it's going after the two dealers, not the users. And Jack, what's the punishment for this deal in crime? $10,000 per violation of this law, which doesn't sound like much per day. Oh, that does sound like a lot.

That could add up quick with the one million Montanaans. Because TikTok is getting downloads right now and right now and right now and right. It's getting a lot of downloads. It's getting a lot of down. That's a lot of violations. That's a lot of $10,000. All right, daddy. So now that we know the law and the crime, what about enforcement?

Oh, I'm glad you asked Jack, because the enforcement is, it's TBD Sergeant Officer. question mark, question mark, question mark. We're not really sure how they're going to do this because even China can't fully block the internet. So how is Montana going to block the internet? Yeah, a VPN is easy for anyone to download and it can make it look like you're in Maine, not Montana. So how's Apple going to stop that? This is going to be hard, Dr. Dutton. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at TikTok?

Montanans can get around this ban, but TikTok may not be able to. How yet is Jack and I should point out, this new law may be unconstitutional. constitutional, and it will definitely get sued. It's definitely going to be brought to court, and a judge might throw this law out. But here's what we found fascinating about this story. Montana's law finishes with a very interesting demand. The new law finishes with this. This law is void if TikTok is acquired by or sold to a company that is not based in a country designated as a foreign adversary. Yeah, can we get a translation on that legal speak? TikTok won't be banned if it's sold to a company in a friendly country.

Funny thing, besties, that happens to be the exact same ultimatum that the Biden administration and the Trump administration both made to TikTok. So, Montanans, they can get around this band

with the VP. But TikTok has only one way to get around it. For our second story, Bumble, just made its first acquisition of the year. It's official.

Because Bumble's future doesn't depend on singles. It depends on couples. Jack, if we're going to talk about Bumble, can we talk about the great paradox of dating apps? The biggest threat to their business is their success. Yeah, ladies, here's the problem with dating apps. The faster they find you a partner, the less time you're a paying user. Oh, Derek and Debbie are hitting it off.

Great! That means they delete the dating app. Oh, and funny problem Bumble has right now? Bumble added artificial intelligence, which is making those matches faster for Derek and Debbie. It's fantastic news for single Sam. But it's bad for Bumble's bottom line. Oh, yeah, Jack. Can we talk about the Bumble stock?

Because I know you happen to be a shareholder. Yeah, I do. Hey, I support you. Thanks for outing me. I'm here for you. I'm here for you. Thank you. Bumble stock is looking for love.

It's down 80% from its IPO. So we noticed that Bumble is trying to spice things up for investors in the boardroom, isn't it, Jack? So Bumble just acquired official. It's official. Yes, Bumble acquired an app called official. Now, Yeti's, we should point out, official is not a dating app. Here's what Jack and I found interesting.

They have created a new category. It's the first kind of relationship app Nick and I had ever heard of. It's a relationship. It sounds a little kinky at first, but actually it's not. Just trust us on this one. Because after you start a relationship, you have to keep that relationship. That was the insight behind this product. Nick, anyone can't start a relationship.

The key is the hold. You have to hold the relationship. Yeah, you can get engaged with that. Then you've got to stay engaged. Now, we don't know how much Bumble paid to acquire official, but we do know that official has 400,000 couples who have both downloaded the official app. And here's what they're trying to do. Official is trying to gamify your long-term relationship.

Here's an example. Officials data says that couples that do date night once a week are three times happier than couples that don't find time for date back. We repeat, doing once a week date night makes you three times happier. So here's what official does. They've a way of getting you to do a date night with an in-app game. Both you and your partner download the official app, and you're both presented with a bunch of fun ideas for date night on Friday night.

And then if both of you and your partner swipe right on the same date night idea, then it becomes a match, and then you go watch E.T. under the stars in the park on Friday night. This is Jack, and I like long nights with a flannel shirt and a cold oatmeal for dinner. Just top it with maple syrup, Nick, and I'll say yes to you right now. So Jack's swiping right on that. E.T. Phone home. And this app is also going to notify both partners to share their daily moods and feelings regularly to each other. And then talk about those feelings weekly.

So the goal here to turn relationship best practices into your relationship habits. And you know, Jack and I like some habits. Like cold oatmeal. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Bumble? A product can be a one and done. Or it can be till death do you part. Yeties, we just told you. Dating apps are a one-and-done business model.

But guess what? They're not the only ones like that. Many businesses cater to people who are in a specific phase of their lives, and then the relationship's over. They're done. For example, colleges and universities, wedding planners, real estate agents, one-and-done, one-and-done, one-and-done. Your success marks the end of their business with you.

So Bumble, they're trying to do deals that prevent one-and-done. They're trying to grow, to evolve, to mature, with their user base. You can delete the Bumble app when you find the one, but then you download Bumble's relationship app. So you stay with the one. And that's how a one and done product can become a till death do you part product. For our third and final story before the weekend, one credit card stock is doing something that none of the others are. And that stock is Capital One. And that just got Warren Buffett really, really excited. Jack, when I say Capital One, talk to me what your What are you seeing? What are you feeling? What are the emotions? I'm feeling Samuel

L. Jackson with a bald head and glasses asking me what's in my wallet. I feel like he's reaching into my wallet. Capital One Yetis. It is the bank with $350 billion of people's savings and checking accounts. You think of it as a credit card company, but it's actually a bank. It is a bank. And what does it do with all that money that customers have deposited? Well, Jack, I'm glad you asked. Capital One uses that money to do credit cards. Capital One will spot you $3,000 this month if you need it, but it's going to charge you a 29% interest if you don't pay it back. Honestly, there's not much that's innovative here with what Capital One is doing.

This is the standard credit card business model. It's a credit card business model. That's what it is. You lend money at a higher interest rate than the interest that you pay depositors for that money. In fact, the only differentiator for Capital One appears to be Samuel L. Jackson asking what's in your wallet. What's in your wallet? Yeah. Honestly, his best performance in.

Pulp Fiction. Just want to throw that out there. Now, here's what Nick and I found fascinating about this story. Even though Capital One has a relatively undifferentiated business, investors are treating Capital One differently. This is kind of wild. Get this Yetty's. Let's look at Capital One's stock. What's going on there, Jack? Capital One's shares are down 50% from their August 2021 high. On the other hand, Jack, let's whip out the wallet here. Discover, American Express, MasterCard, all of them operate credit cards too, and all of them are publicly traded companies. So we can compare their stocks. And those three credit card companies, they're barely down or actually up over the same period that Capital One is down 50%. Well, pause the pod. Legendary investor Warren Buffett is seeing four companies

doing mostly the same thing, but one of them looks a lot cheaper than the other ones, Jack. Warren Buffett sees Capital One stock price is way lower than the others, and he sees that as a discount deal opportunity. Buffett's looking at this. He's like, oh, this is 50% off. We're looking at the sale rack at Banana Republic right now. It's got Capital One stock. I could buy these three stocks for full price, or I could buy this one, which is just as good in his mind, for 50% off. Ipsop facto, the most important investor on Earth just ordered his fund managers to buy $1 billion of Capital One stock, ASAP. That's the news. This week, Berkshire Hathaway bought $1 billion of Capital One stock.

Hold it on the plastic, Sam. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Capital One? Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. Heady's get this, Warren Buffett's Berkshire-Hathaway Investment Fund, it's got a 666 batting average. Two out of three times, two out of three years, Berkshire Hathaway stock is beating the S&P 500. Wow, the reason Warren Buffett's been so successful, it's because he doesn't follow the herd. In fact, Warren Buffett does the opposite of the herd. Most investors don't want the stocks of regional banks right now because they're worried that their regional bank could go down like Silicon Valley

Bank did. But Warren Buffett's team isn't following that herd. They crunch the numbers and they think that Capital One happens to be safe. So while others are fearful right now, Warren Buffett is being greedy. And that is why he bought a billion dollars of this stock that he thinks is a good deal. So how is Warren Buffett batted so well over his 15th? eight-year investing career. Jack, by being fearful when others are greedy and being greedy when others are fearful. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Montana just became the first date to ban TikTok. Montanans can get around the ban, but TikTok may not be able to. For our second story, Bumble just acquired official. So they do the dating and now they do the

relationship too. Bumble just went from one and done, two till death do us part. And our third final story is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. They just bought a billion dollars of Capital One Stock. Yiddies, be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because we figured it out yesterday and we just had to share this with you. It was too good. Yesterday we covered a story about Heinz ketchup. Yes, we did. And Jack and I were wondering, we were like, hey, Heinz ketchup has famously 57 different varieties. So, we What are those 57 different sauces?

No one knows, actually, because it's a fake number. It's not real. Get this. The 57 varieties were made up by the founder of Heinz ketchup, Mr. Henry Heinz, like 120 years ago. Yeah. Five happens to be his lucky number. And seven was his wife's lucky number.

So he just put 57 on the bottle and was like, hey, I just hope no one from the marketing team asked me. Yeah, he said, let's do 57 varieties. They're like, but we don't have 57 varieties. And he's like, I don't care. Yeah, back then, legal. wasn't really a department in the corporate team. Yeah, I think this is the earliest instance of fake it till you make it. Yettys, you looked just fantastic this week. And if you want to have some fun

this weekend, you should play our pop biz, pop quiz. How do you do it, Jack? It's a five-question quiz about this week's pods. Go to go.tttieboypod.com. You're going to have a blast, and you can celebrate the wins after you finish the quiz. Nick and I, we'll see you Monday. Have a fantastic weekend. Honestly, we can't wait. And before we go, congratulations to legendary Yeti, Nick Kramer, who's got a new baby boy, Donnie Kramer, the latest cousin in the extended clan of the Kramer brothers. It's the third Kramer boy of the four Kramer brothers original.

Jack, Nick Kramer's going to be a fantastic dad. He can cut down a tree with his hands. He can be a father. This guy's going to be great. Martha is already a couple days in, a legendary mother. And Nicholas, congratulations. And a shout out to the bestie family, the Downings, who are packing their bags and moving from Nashville to New Jersey.

Happy six-year wedding anniversary to Rachel and Eric Ludwig in Orham, Utah. And Patrick and Christina Gilday, congrats on the anniversary. They are potting right now together in Washington, D.C. And congratulations to the Berkeley House MBA class of 2020. 40% of whom are international. Not too shabby. Speaking of which, happy birthday to Yetti Bob Siddiquajab over in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

And happy 14th birthday to Hannah Garcese in Honolulu, Hawaii. And Mason Stokes, enjoy that 10th birthday in Atoka, Tennessee. And happy birthday to Miranda Ansbach in Cordillade. And Marine Captain John Demo, we salute your birthday in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Happy birthday to Cole Davis in Kansas City, Missouri. And Alex Vietti is celebrating that birthday with the new job over at Blackstone. There we go. Happy birthday to Morgan McQueen in San Francisco.

And Juan Camilo Gallego, happy birthday in South Carolina. Happy birthday to Jan Hyenne in South Haven, Mississippi. And Hillary, enjoy that birthday down in Arlington, Virginia. Happy birthday to Laura Gessling in Bellevue, Washington. And Amalia Villarreal is having a pink unicorn-themed birthday party because she's in Napa and she's turning three. Happy 26th birthday to Tanya C. in Houston, Texas. And Andrew Stanley, happy 12th birthday in Mason, Ohio. Happy birthday to Rhett Shields, turning Lucky Number 7 in Caysville, Utah.

And Andrew Pindner, enjoy that 28th over in lovely Atlanta. Happy 31st birthday to Margo Cleveland, tubing in San Francisco to celebrate. And Merely, enjoy sunny Santa Monica on your birthday. Congratulations to Janie and Rob for the birth of their first baby. They are celebrating right now with Dulcea ice cream. And Duke has got a first birthday in Benicia, California celebrating with blueberries. This is Jack. I own stock of Bumble in Berkshire Hathaway.

And Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500. Great. Dude, did you want to slate in there? I said it repels bugs and it repels Bianca too. Yeah, that was good. That was really good. That was really good. That was really good.

So yet he's now that. we know the crime, this new crime that just existed in Montana. Eat that again, that was too slow. NPR over here.