The Best One Yet - 🚀 “$XXX” — SpaceX’s sugardaddy deal. Zebra’s Super Bowl stock. Pepsi’s price cut. +Minivan Millennial Dad.

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

One company is tracking every football at the Super Bowl… And it’s a publicly-traded stock.Elon Musk is merging SpaceX and Xai… It’s a sugardaddy acquisition.Pepsi is cutting prices on Dorito���s and all snacks by 15%... It’s inspired by Greek mythology.Plus, the surprise car trend? Minivans… Driven by 40-year-old Millennial dads.$ZBRA $PEP $XXXX Buy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAYAustin, TX (2/25): SOLD OUTArlington, VA (3/11): https://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/shows/341317 New York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2Los Angeles, CA (6/3): SOLD OUTGet your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, so we're J Wednesday, February 4th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is the T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, boy, we got a problem, Jack. Yesterday's pod was so good. How are we going to make today's pod better? I felt so good leaving the studio yesterday. I know you mean. I know you mean. I didn't listen to the episode because, like, I have finite time and I don't love listening to myself.

Well, that's awkward, Jack. I listen twice this morning for it. We got three fantastic stories on today's team boy. What do we got in the show, Jack? For our first story, Elon Musk just executed the biggest corporate acquisition ever. Asterisk setting up the biggest IPO ever this summer. Because SpaceX now owns XAI. And when an IPO's ticker symbol, what are we thinking, Jack?

Triple X. Quadruple X. For our second story, Pepsi just blinked. They're actually cutting the prices on their Doritos and all of their snacks by 15%. Because PepsiCo is inspired by Greek mythology. And our third and final story. At this year's Super Bowl, one company put chips in every football,

end zone pylon, and every shoulder pad. Zebra technology. They are powering the moneyball effect of the NFL. And this company is publicly traded. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Whoa, I mean, I think we did it, Jack. Today's mix better than yesterday's mix. Love the pod.

Well, you haven't said lick yet, Nick. So, yeah, this episode's going pretty long so far. But, Nick, you said no way. you would never do it, not in a million years. And yet, besties, here you are buying a minivan. Get this. For the first time in years,

minivan sales are up in America. And the biggest buyer, who is it, Jack? Millennial dudes. 40-year-old guys. That's right. Elder millennial men are piling into the minivan.

Literally. Just like they used to when they were kids. The new soccer mom? It's a millennial dad. If you don't believe us, Well, the data just rolled up in a Honda Odyssey right over there. Plenty of room for everyone.

Minivan sales rose 21% last year, outpacing growth in car sales overall by 10x. 393,3,312 brand new minivans were sold in America in 2025. I mean, the only question, Jack, you're thinking it, and I'm thinking it. Who called dibs on captaincies? I said, get out of here, Teddy. That's Jack's younger brother, by the way. Because in this economy, minivans offer a third seat bang for your family buck. Minivans are half the price of an SUV and give you twice the space.

But Jack, minivans are half the price of an SUV and half the swagger of an SUV. My wife pretty much says she'll never, ever, ever, ever. Keep trying to pitch that one, John. And we got more receipts, besties, Chrysler's Pacifica. It's the top seller in the country. The Toyota Sienna, sales surge 35% last year. Our buddy Timmy, God bless him, just embraced the Dodge Grand Caravan like it's a sweet green salad. But my wife, not so much.

Although, Nick, my trip to Florida were taken this year, I rented a minivar. I'm hoping it grows on it. Alex, I know you're listening, unlike Jack, resist. Just keep resisting. But yet, if you are a millennial dad, this puts you in an awkward situation. You said you'd never fall asleep in front of your TV.

And you said you'd never worry about the thermostat. And you said you'd never complain about loud rock and roll music. And then, boom, here you are, putting 10% down on a Ford Winstar. If you're a millennial van dude, drop Y in the comments. And hopefully my wife's gonna read this.

Shock on, Jack. Let's in our three stories. 15 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 an norm. Jack Nick, that's 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Elon SpaceX, acquired his other company, X-A-I for two. $250 billion bucks the biggest acquisition in history. It sets up the most important IPO ever, too. The IPO of SpaceX AI, a sugar-dady IPO. A sugar-dady IPO will explain.

But besties, there has been a ton of news about SpaceX this week, shining a telescope into the most mysterious big company on planet Earth. Financials of SpaceX, the private company, were reported by Reuters on Monday. I've never seen SpaceX's members before until these. No, we have not, Jack. these were otherworldly because SpaceX made $15 billion in revenue last year. Could you sprinkle on some context, please, Jack? Well, that's less than a fifth of what Tesla made last year. Interesting. But in the profit department, SpaceX doubled Tesla's profits last year.

And Jack, how is SpaceX doubling profits of Tesla despite doing a fraction of the business? Because they can charge whatever they want for rocket launches. Yeah, SpaceX, this guy has an accidental monopoly. They did 84% of U.S. rocket launches last year for one, very unique reason. They're the only rocket company that reuses their rockets. They're like the ultimate rocket recycler. SpaceX has successfully landed and reused rockets 460 times. Only one other company has ever successfully reused a rocket. That was blue origin, and they only did it once. But get this, another shock in detail, up to 80% of SpaceX's revenue, according to Reuters, comes from Starlink's satellite internet service. Nine million people are subscribed to get their

Wi-Fi from Elon satellites that are up in space. Can you hear me now? Jack, add it up in SpaceX is making money launching rockets and making money charging monthly internet services like a little Verizon. And someday SpaceX could colonize Mars and like mine that planet for resources and minerals we don't even know about yet. And that is why June's IPO is targeting a record $1.5 trillion dollar valuation. It's not an IPO. It's a UPO ultimate public offering. And as we told you last week, Elon is targeting a date for the IPO to coordinate with the galaxy. True story. When Jupiter aligns with Venus, that's when we'll get the IPO. It's horoscopically optimized, basically. June 8th or June 9th. That's the deadline. Just look at the tarot cards.

But check, pause the pod, because that was the first news this week. SpaceX's galactic financial numbers. The second news is that SpaceX is officially not profitable anymore. That's right, because Elon announced on Monday, SpaceX is acquiring his other company, X-AI for reported 250 billion bucks. This is like Elon telling two of his many, many kids that they have to bunk up and move in together. But Jack, this would also make it the biggest acquisition in history with an asterisk. Elon Musk controls both SpaceX and XAI. So the price of the acquisition, that's irrelevant. Yeah, I know what you're saying. It's like buying something on Facebook marketplace from yourself. Yeah, it doesn't matter what price you're saying. It's from

left pocket to right pocket. So what do you think this kind of looks like if you're analyze it further, Jack. To us, SpaceX acquiring X-AI looks like a bailout of X-AI. Because X-A-I is in an AI arms race that even Elon Musk can't afford. Basties, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, they're spent in $100 billion a year on AI opportunities. OpenAI has committed to spend $1 trillion or more on data centers. So if Elon wants to win the AI war, which he does, then he needs $1 trillion to do it. And SpaceX's IPO is where that money's going to come. from. Basically, SpaceX is driving this summer to NASDAQ money, and XAI is going to hit your ride for free. Which is why Jack and I are calling SpaceX's IPO a sugar daddy IPO. But talking about daddies and Elon's

kids, what about Tesla? Like, are they not going to get in on this mega merger? Well, daddy, Tesla is publicly traded. And Elon owns less than 20% of that business. So he cannot single-handedly merge it with his SpaceX. But we wouldn't be surprised if Tesla does end up merging with SpaceX and X-A-I, Elon's other sibling companies. Because all Elon would have to do is convince 30% of Tesla shareholders to vote for that SpaceX merger. His pitch, it would be this. I need to focus on CEOing one company, not several. So I'm going to merge all my companies into one. You want to do this. It's going to be good for you financially. And Jack, what do we think the ticker symbol of that company would be? El-O-N. I was thinking triple-X. Or is it Quadruple-X? Which one would you do?

Guess it could be Quadruple-X because of the social network. Our money's on the Quadro-X. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at SpaceX? This June, Elon Musk will write the shareholder letter of his life. Yetis, we are extremely excited to spend entire weekends reading through the S-1 IPO paperwork for SpaceX because they're no longer just a space company. Well, Elon did tease on Monday the new mission of SpaceX in a press release. Here's how he described it. He said their new mission is, scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the universe

and extend the light of consciousness to the stars. What does that mean? We don't know what that means. Scaling to make a sentient sun? I don't know if he was trolling us or... I think that's Robert Frost, Jack. And if you call that poetry, then Elon's press release included some pros as well.

He used the TLDR. Elon said in his press release that data centers must be built in space because they use too much energy and too much space and too much resources here on Earth. So Space XAI will launch a million satellites into orbit with built-in data centers powering Grock Chatbots down on Earth

and powered up above by the solar sun. And the data centers will probably use Tesla solar panels and be repaired in space by Tesla's humanoid robots. Which will all be broadcast to half a billion users on X, formerly Twitter, now owned by SpaceX. It's complicated, Yetis. But it all

comes together. Besties, Elon's entire life has come to this moment, selling the Space XAI story to Wall Street. This June, Elon Musk will write the show. shareholder letter of his life. For our second story, I'm sorry, is this our first story on deflation, Jack? I think it is. It is, besties.

After Jack and the prices a freaking 38% Pepsi is reversing. They are cutting their stack prices by 15%. Because Pepsi learned a lesson from Greek mythology. Now, yaddies, as friends of the show, you may remember on CNN late last year. Jack and I were wondering this one particular question. Will this be the year that companies finally give us what we badly want, lower prices? You see, because when Jack and I were kids, Jack grew up with three brothers, so he was like a turkey jerky kind of guy at the gas station, right, Jack?

No, I was a bag of Doritos guy. And every bag of Doritos had that big yellow 50 cents label on it. But looking at the Instacar app right now, Nick, there's not a single Doritos product in my grocery store for under five bucks. Oh, but Jack, it is not just us and it is it, my friend? Snacking has become very expensive. According to Jeffrey's investment bank, who definitely does not have Doritos at their office, prices for salty snacks rose 38% from 2020 to 2024.

A $5 snack in 2020 is now a $7 snack. Basically, chips are the new Chipotle, if you know, you know. And the result of that vicious snackflation, consumer pushback. The smack back on the snacks, PepsiCo just announced their fourth straight year of shrinking snack sales. Which leads to this overdue news. Pepsi is doing something you probably didn't realize a corporation could do. They're lowering prices across the board. According to the Pepsi CEO, quote unquote, consumers told us they need more value.

Did they tell you or did they scream at you? Because according to the Wall Street Journal, consumers did not just tell the Pepsi CEO that. They sent a flood of emails and voicemail message directly to them. And they voted with their feet. They did? By not buying bags of Cool Ranch and I. Because they're seven bucks now. They used to be 50 cents.

Says the guy who wants a minivan. Now, besties, this leads to something shocking and fascinating. Our first major deflation situation. We've had inflation for years now, and inflation has come down. But overall, prices are still rising. This is a story where prices are actually going to fall. This is a story of hope. The price of a $5 bag of Doritos will now come down to $4.30.

It's not huge, but it's a start. It's baby step. And they're going to include a same-size, lower-priced label on the bag, because we're skeptical. We think this could be another skimflation trick. No more sneakflation on us, guys. And Pepsi, they're doing it for all their snacks. Lays, Tostitos, Doritos, Cheetos. The whole Sinbin is getting a price cut right now.

And the reason the sales shrink in situation for Pepsi has been so painful, people are still snacking. They're just snacking on other brands. Jack, can I interest you in some Walmart Better Goods brand, or some Sam's Club, Sam's Choice? or maybe you prefer Costco's Kirkland or have had a little trader shows. Private label store brands

are the big winners of this inflation situation. Which leads, though, to the big question. Will 15% price cuts summon snackers back to their caloric overlords over at Pepsi? I can tell you the answer is yes. Because Doritos are a drug. The Super Bowl is the only time of the year I let myself have Doritos.

Because if I open the bag, it's a guarantee I finish the bag. I know. We actually mean to sit you down. Alex and I can have a conversation about this, Jack. Not in a minivan. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Pepsi? PepsiCo just learned the lesson of Icarus. It didn't just fly too close to the sun.

It stayed up there too long. Now, besties, we've said before, you don't know your price until the customer says no. The lesson there is that if your price has never been rejected by your customer, it means you're probably undervaluing yourself. Write that down. It goes for your salary too. But for Pepsi, the customer has been rejecting them a lot.

For four years. It took an activist investor to force Pepsi to find its value proposition again and make this 15% price correction. You know what Yetis? That damage is done. Walmart and Costco, they're at all-time highs. Their private labels are taking a record percentage of sales from Pepsi. While PepsiCo's stock is down 17% in the last three years.

So, Basties, you don't know your price until the customer says no. But if they say no nine times, you got to listen to them. In Greek mythology, Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted. Well, Pepsi flew too close. and stayed out there too long, and the stock melted. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, when the Super Bowl kicks off this Sunday,

one company you've never heard of will be the most excited of anyone. That company is Zebra Technologies. Because Zebras chips are in every single football, cone, and shoulder pad tracking everything in the game. And you didn't even know it. But Yeties, let's start back in 1969. Woodstock had their music festival. We landed on the moon and the Gap made their first ever sweatshirt.

And Zebra was founded in Illinois. Zebra Technologies, a boring beta business that tracks things. Basically like the Where's Waldo of tech. They do barcodes and barcode scanners, but they specialize in a technology called RFID. RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification and you have been alarmed by it. Because you walked out of a store and your sweater started beeping because the cashier forgot to take off that RFID tag. So from J-Crew to UPS, those are the types of businesses using Zebras RFID tracking tags. It's a $12 billion publicly traded company, although the stock is down 40% in the last year.

It's more than a lift. But it turns out the same technology tracking your Amazon packages is also tracking Seattle Seahawks wide receivers. Because Zebra went from scanning cereal boxes at Walmart to scanning quarterbacks at the Super Bowl. Get this. The NFL is this good at making money. They actually sold an official real-time on-fields player tracking provider designation to this company, Zebra Technologies. That is the most narrowly scoped designation. But Bessie, Jack and I discovered this and we were fascinated. I mean, it turns out every NFL player has two to three computer chips in their shoulder pads.

And they're only three grams each that's lighter than a sugar packet. And that chip, that is a zebra chip. It's also inside the end zone pylons. The first down chains, every single football used. in the game has one of their chips. There are 250 zebra chips total on the field at any time, tracking all 22 guys and their movements. Looks like Zebra has more data than the CIA these days.

Now, if you've watched an NFL game, you know that next generation stats are provided by AWS, but did you know that the source of that data is these physical sensors from zebra technologies? And yes, we know you're wondering, Basties. These chips are, in fact, quarterback approved when they're in the footballs. Tom Brady made sure they didn't mess with his spiral aerodagh.

dynamics like his deflated balls did. You don't want to throw a wounded duck because of a misplaced chip. That is not good. And all these chips, 10 times every second, are sending data back to HQ. They capture the location, the speed, the height, within an inch, 200 data points per a play. When Tyree Kill was running 30 miles per hour after catching a touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes, we know he's speed because of these sensors.

They're doing 30,000 stats per a game, including ones we'd never heard it before. Jack, do you know what a yak is, though? Yes, yards after catch. What about Cush? C-U-S-H. Do you know what cushions? I do not. That's average cushion, a distance measure in yards between the wide receiver, the tight end, and the defender. That's a statistic, and they track it with these chips, man, because they're in the shoulder pads. And at last year's Super Bowl, Travis Kelsey looked up with his girlfriend in the box 438 times before halftime. We know

because of Zebra. But Vesies, the data that they're gathering isn't just to entertain. Like, collision data from Zebra also helps to redesign the helmets. And reduce concussions. And snap speed data helps determine if, I don't know, the quarterback's wrist might need some rest. Basically, this is moneyball for football, and no one knows that this one logistics company is behind it. They're called Zebra, by the way, because that's a nickname for referees. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Zebra? B-to-B doesn't mean antisocial. B-to-B better be seen. Yeties, Zebras's been with the NFL for 12 years in a reported $50 million a year or $50 million total

contract. We actually don't know for sure it was hard to determine. But either way, that is just a tiny fraction of Zebras $5 billion in revenue that comes from the NFL. Here's what Jack and I are thinking. This NFL deal gets 100% of the attention, but it's less than 1% of Zebra's revenues. Where Zebra really makes money is with retailers like Eritzia for those security tags or logistics companies like UPS to track packages. Even hospitals, all of those, that's like 99% of their sales biz. In fact, 80% of Fortune 500 companies use Zebra to track their assets and their people. But the best marketing moves Zebra ever made wasn't an ad.

It was a deal with the NFL. How does Zebra snag a client like FedEx? They probably sent the CEO a signed football that has zebra chips inside. Bessies, you may work in a B2B business, selling business to business. And those businesses stay in the shadows. They're antisocial. They don't do cool things because they don't sell the consumers. But Zebra proves the power of being consumer relevant, even if the customer isn't a consumer.

B2B doesn't mean be antisocial. B2B better be seen. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday. SpaceX, a profitable company, now owns X-A-I, a very unprofitable company. This is a sugar-dady acquisition, and now Elon has to write the IPO shareholder letter of his life. For our second story, PepsiCo is cutting the prices of all snacks by 15%. It's corporate deflation. Pepsi didn't just fly too close to the sun.

On prices, they stayed up there for four years way too long. And our third and final story, Zebra Technologies is the reason. We know the ball speed of Drake May's passes. Zebras is a business to business company, but their sales are up because they're consumer relevant in the Super Bowl. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First Jack, white smoke hath risen from Cinderella's castle.

That means Disney has a new CEO, Josh Tomorrow. Josh is a Georgetown guy, and he's worked at Disney's Parks Division since 1998. And second, gold and silver prices are dropping, and that's great. crushing the world's biggest jeweler. Pandora's jewelry stock fell 10% yesterday as Wall Street downgraded the stock. Since the new Fed chair was nominated, gold and silver prices have plummeted, and that's going to be volatile for the jewelry industry. And finally, yesterday we told you Nike and Costco collabed on a sneaker,

but now Amtrak wants in. Amtrak, the railroad business is now in fashion. They launched Amtrak, track suits. Yeah, you get at track suits, you wear on the train tracks. They're trying to combine function with fashion. here, it appears. They're dripping with nostalgia, by the way. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yeti, CJ, a guy who buys alcohol for restaurants and prices bar drinks for a living. It's true, according to CJ, that some bars charge a 90% profit margin for martinis.

But as CJ points out, restaurants are a really tough business, and we should add that context. Those huge cocktail margins are crucial to stay in business, and martinis are actually the key to paying the rent. The vast majority of restaurants make a total profit margin of less than 5% even when you include the huge markups on liquor. Yettys, you look fantastic today. Jack, you look like a boomer today. Besties, today's poll, it's on what should be the ticker symbol of SpaceX. Yesterday's was on Shake and Not Sturred on the Martini. Vote today on Spotify. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know, can't wait. Happy birthday to Yeti Brian Lovie from Panama the country, partying it up, though, in Cancun, Mexico.

Happy 33rd birthday to Marshall in Chicago, Illinois. And Sandy Smith, happy 66th over in Atlanta. Happy birthday to Paul Maraglia from Port Washington, New York, same hometown as my father. Long Island, baby, and Calvin Chang, enjoy that birthday down in Sugarland, Texas. Happy birthday to Katie Martell, the legendary Yeti living in Tribeca, New York. And Scott and McKenzie Henderson, enjoy. your 12-year anniversary over in Utah. Congratulations to Thomas Balls and Brandon Garrett,

who launched a new business, full-motion simulation racing, called Racing Ritual in Tempe, Arizona. You got this, guys. And Ali Arind has got a new job as a packaging engineer over in New Jersey. Happy two-year wedding anniversary to longtime lovers, Louise and Annabelle.

They're in Aurora, Illinois. Just outside Chicago, doing logistics. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a tee boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Amazon, nickel and stock in Nike,

and we both own stock at Chipotle.