1️⃣ “Lyft-off” — Our Lyft stock pick. Japan’s $3.2M lucky tuna. Lego’s smart brick. +Starbucks gift cards

0:00This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Wednesday, so VJay Wednesday, January 7th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news news stories you need to know today. Well, Jack, I'm wearing Slammin' Salmon today, and we are excited for this pod. Why is that, man? We're pulling a Jim Cramer and sharing one of our three big stock picks for 2026. Yeah, now, so far in 2026, it seems like just about all stocks are up, right? The S &P 500 about to hit 7 ,000 for the first time ever. Not too shabby. It's all-time high-end. But Jack, three stories we got on today's T-Boy.

0:34What do we got on the show? For our first story, a man in Japan known as the Tuna King just spent a record$3.2 million on one single tuna fish. Because this one most expensive fish ever could actually save Japan's economy. For our second story, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LEGO just unveiled their first ever electronic brick. Because to fight the screen, you need a screen. And our third and final story. For the first time ever on this pod, we're doing our portfolio resolutions. our three stock picks for the new year. And our first stock pick for 2026, what is it, Jack? It's worth one left.

1:11If you know, you know. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Whoa, what a mix of stories. Love the mix for Ceviche Wednesday, Jack. Remember our story just in December, actually, on the economics of gift cards? Yeah, top story of the year. They are the number one gift of the holiday season. The gift card. The old data is that one out of seven Americans were getting Starbucks gift cards for the holidays. Oh, but Starbucks just served us up some new data. In 2025, one out of five Americans received a Starbucks gift card for the holidays. Apparently, America's love language is a Starbucks gift card double-digit lattes.

1:46Nothing says, I latte you like a Starbucks gift card. Oh, and by the way, a record$60 million of them were bought just on Christmas Eve. That is more money spent on Starbucks gift cards in one day than DoorDash, Spotify, or The Gap Make in any day. So, Yetis, since half of us got some kind of a gift card over the holidays, we have an assignment. Oh, what is the assignment, Jack? Time to spend those gift cards. According to SEC filings, Target has$1.2 billion in unused gift cards out there. Starbucks has$1.8 billion, and Amazon has$5.4 billion of unused gift cards. Sit down, stand up, and besties, This is your reminder to whip open the random drawer that you put all your gift cards in.

2:30Happy gift card swiping Wednesday. Yeah, we're trying to make that a thing to all those who celebrate. You know what they say in the gift card industry, Jack. Use them. Don't lose them. Don't lose them. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50 % that's a fat tip t-boy city on your at list if you know you know because we ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show start the show first a quick word from our sponsor

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4:36For our first story, one single tuna fish was sold for 3.2 million bucks at an auction in Japan, the highest price ever paid for a fish. Who was the buyer? A Japanese patriot who wanted to stimulate the nation's economy. We'll explain. All right. So if you've been to Japan, I went a few years ago, highlight Jack, Toyosu Fish Market. That's where I got that hat for you. I know. That was a great souvenir because I've never been to Japan. Well, basically you show up at the fish market at 4 a.m. There's a live tuna auction at 5 a.m. And then you're enjoying a tuna breakfast, 6 a.m. Did you really show up at 4?

5:11It's pretty early. If you show up at 4 a.m. in Japan, you are not getting it, Jack. Well, I'll tell you, the hat you gave me still smells like seafood. That's how you know it's fresh. Well, the biggest fish market on earth is this Toyusu Fish Market. They sell 3 million pounds of seafood every single day. 3 million pounds. Ariel, the little mermaid, yeah, she's impressed by that. It's open six days a week, all year. There's an auction at 5 a.m., but the most important auction of the year is the first auction of the year. It's a New Year's tradition in Japan. The first bluefin tuna caught and sold is a good luck charm.

5:45The Oma Bluefin Tuna is the best type of tuna there is, and it's known in Japan as the Black Diamond. Ah, the Black Diamond. It commonly weighs over 500 pounds. Well, perfect timing, Jack, because on Monday morning, a 535-pound Black Diamond Bluefin Tuna sold for a record 3.2 million bucks. Now, you might be frustrated when you see that steak at your grocery store is$20 a pound. It's frustrating. This tuna was sold for$5 ,981 per pound. It's the most expensive meat ever purchased. Jack, that's more than some rare earth metals, man. And here's the best part. The buyer is a man known as the Tuna King.

6:26The self-proclaimed Tuna King. His real name is Kiyoshi Kimura. He's the founder of Sushi Zanmai, the biggest sushi chain in Japan. And he knew he was going to win the auction. Oh, yeah, he did. Because he brought a sushi sword for a photo op after the deed was done. But then critically, he sent the fillets of the fish to 34 of his restaurant locations, including their new one in lovely Los Angeles. Which leads to the biggest news for us Americans. Starting tomorrow, that Los Angeles location of Sushi's on Mai is celebrating what they call the World Record Tuna Festival, a festival they just made up.

7:01And it happens and it lasts until they run out of that record-setting fish. Basically, you can now get a mocky roll of the most expensive fish ever sold for just five bucks. Not basically. That's the price. They're not adding an upcharge even though they spent so much on this tuna. It tastes like Guinness Book. But besties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this situation. At last year's first auction of the year, the tuna was way bigger but sold for a much lower price than this year. So Jack and I are checking the data here and we gotta ask, why did the Tuna King spend three times more per pound on the fish this year than last year?

7:38To answer that, we have to sprinkle on some context. Please, Jack. On the same day the tuna auction happened, the Bank of Japan made an official policy announcement. You see, Japan's economy has stagnated for three decades now, and their latest struggle is the trade war. So the Bank of Japan, along with the new prime minister of Japan, are really trying hard to boost the economy with government stimulus policies. They're using traditional stimulus policies for that. Well, the tuna king said, hold my beer or hold my tuna. I want in. You're right, Jack. It turns out the tuna king spent so much at the auction in order to boost the economy as well.

8:14Here's what he said. I hope this will cheer everyone up. People in Japan can enjoy a bite and feel revitalized. What we're talking about here, Jack, is retail therapy, but for sushi. He splurged on this one tuna because that's a sign that, I don't know, the economy must be doing well and it could lift the spirits of the economic participants. The way Jack and I see it, this is some seafood stimulus. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the most expensive tuna ever sold? Confidence is contagious, and economies thrive on confidence. Now, Eddies, Jack and I would argue that the tuna king didn't overpay.

8:47He actually underpaid. Jack, toss this tuna in the marketing budget, man. The most expensive tuna ever sold? That was a headline in the Wall Street Journal here in the States, the BBC in Britain, Bon Appetit magazine. It was the headline across Japan. But even more importantly, this tuna splurge could actually boost Japan's GDP. Because economics isn't just a science. No. It's driven by emotions, psychology, and behaviors. Jack, what's the biggest threat to an economy? Fear is. And Jack, what's the biggest booster for an economy? Confidence. That's right. If consumers are confident, spending rises.

9:21If consumers are scared, they don't spend as much. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. So to break the cycle of fear that's lasted in Japan for the last 30 years and try to stimulate some confidence instead, the tuna king did the most confident thing you can possibly do with your money. Besties, you can't start a fire without a spark. And that$3.2 million black diamond tuna fish, that could be the spark that Japan's economy needs. We'll take two. For our second story, Lego just announced the most significant evolution in Legos in 50 years. Smart Brick Lego. Smart Bricks. Lego is getting techie, but not too techie, because Lego's real success is in their system.

10:06Jack, if we're going to tell this story, how about we begin with Toy Story number five. It's coming out this summer, isn't it? Toy Story five. The trailer dropped last month. The antagonist of this fifth Toy Story is an iPad. Ah, the three scariest words to millennial parents. App, store, password. Is Maxie asking you for the password to the iPad, Nick? No, but I'm afraid he's going to. Yet he's in the trailer of Toy Story 5. You see Bonnie, the kid who owns the toys, glued to the screen of her brand fancy new tablet. And Woody is devastated. And Buzz just had an accident in his spacesuit when he saw how much Bonnie loves this new tablet.

10:41Well, Lego feels the same way. because its plastic bricks have as much tech in them as Mr. Potato Head's mustache. Now, I should point out, Lego sales are crushing Mattel and Hasbro like a hungry, hungry hippo. And our revenue's up 13 % in the last year to 11 billion bucks. But this company's smart, and they see technology disrupting toys. So before they get disrupted, they're disrupting themselves. That's why this Danish family-owned company just announced the Smart Lego. Before we chat more about the Smart Legos, please, Jeff. Yesterday, we did a story on Banuary. Bannuary, how the digital detox is the biggest New Year's resolution this year.

11:15What LEGO's launch this week reveals there's nuance. LEGO's bet is that you're not cutting down on all technology in 2026. You're just trying to cut down on screens. And to understand this, we can look at the Star Wars LEGO set made with smart bricks. Starting in March, you can buy a 500-piece LEGO set to build your own X-Wing from Star Wars for your kid. And one piece in that box is going to be the smart brick. Jack looks like a standard 4x2 Lego brick, but it's got sensors and a battery and a tiny computer inside that brick. That brick is going to sit atop the jet if you constructed it properly.

11:50And then when you give it to your kid and the kid pretends to fly it around the living room, the lights will start flashing on that smart brick. And then when Luke Skywalker's lightsaber is swung nearby, the smart brick knows to make a lightsaber sound. And if Senator Palpatine approaches the X-Wing jet, that brick will start playing the Imperial March song. Spoiler! Oh, and if you step on it, it'll hurt twice as much. I don't know if that's true, actually. I think it's pretty much physically the same. Unless you get electrocuted. Besties, this smart brick, it knows those pieces are moving because of the NFC tags that are planted inside of it.

12:24Each piece is aware of the existence of the others with technology, a.k.a. the force. Basically, if you add it all up, it kind of looks like Zuck's metaverse vision, but in real life. Yeah, but not the metaverse. And people are actually going to use it. These smart Lego sets cost about$10 to$20 more than regular Lego sets, and Star Wars Legos are getting this technology first, with Pokemon Lego sets getting them next. Okay, but pause the pod for a sec, because most importantly, Pikachu is going to be able to interact with R2-D2. Lego insisted on that because of our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lego?

12:58If this fails, the failure will be small because of Lego's system in play. Yetis, for our other show, The Best Idea Yet, we covered the origin story of the Lego. And critical to their business success is their core strategy developed decades ago called the system in play. The system in play is a rule at Lego that every Lego and every Lego set must be compatible with every other Lego and every other Lego set. Picture this. the pink brick that forms the pterodactyl wing must also attach to the tan brick that makes the Mona Lisa's Lego nose. This way, fans can buy more and more sets of Legos and then dump them all into their bucket knowing they all are compatible with each other.

13:38The system in play, that's how they scaled the Lego. And similarly, these smart bricks are compatible with every previous Lego ever made. Now, some critics online are calling these smart bricks the destruction of imagination for kids. But even if these critics are right and Lego shuts down the whole smart Lego concept, those discontinued bricks will still be useful. Because Lego built a system, a system in play. If one part fails, the failure will be small. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Top hats, baseball hats, Von Dutch hats. We wear so many hats on this podcast. Honestly, we're not great at all of them.

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15:08Hi, this is Kim Holderness from the Laugh Lines podcast. Let's talk about spring break. You might be thinking, oh no, Kim, nothing good happens on spring break. Well, I'm here to tell you, it's time to redefine our vacation time. We all deserve a getaway that is meaningful, but doesn't require a ton of planning. Spring break isn't what it used to be. It's better. This spring, stay three nights and get a$50 Best Western gift card. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions.

15:44For our third and final story, it's our first stock pick for 2026. And that pick is Lyft. Because Lyft is willing to do the unsexy work that the self-driving car companies don't want to do. No, they don't want to do it, do they, Jack? Lyft stock will either boom or bust this year. Here is why we think it's going to boom. This is why we're hailing a share of Lyft. Yetis that this year, three big robo-taxi companies are racing to see who will have 100 ,000 cars on the road first. Waymo took the early lead. I actually took one to work this morning. But Tesla is catching up fast. I'm actually taking one home after the recording today.

16:21Also, Amazon Zoox, they recently started their engine. But on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we saw two new robo-taxi players emerge on the scene. Uber began testing their self-driving Lucid Gravity SUV on Monday. Yeah, definitely the fanciest car you can robo-taxi right now. They even got massage sheets in the back, Jack. And on the same day, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA announced that NVIDIA has built a self-driving car with Mercedes-Benz. Forget massage sheets. I hear there are massage headrests on that thing, Jack. Oh, that would be nice. So our prediction number one of this story is that robo-taxis from at least five different companies will be available to hail in the United States this year.

17:03But besties, our bigger prediction here is that Lyft will be the one to benefit the most. That's why Lyft is one of our three big stock picks of 2026. And here's what we're thinking, Yetis. You see, Lyft is the one tech company that is willing to do the dirty work of robo-taxis, the charging and the cleaning of the cars. Because if robo-taxis are like mini hotels, which they kind of are, you like book a room for your 30-minute commute to work, then Lyft would be the housekeeping. Basically, to the Hilton Hotels and RoboTaxis, Lyft is the maid service. But first, we gotta back up for a second. Wall Street has never forgiven Lyft for failing to launch a food delivery business.

17:42You see, besties, Uber is 22 times more valuable than Lyft because Uber is a two-product company. Rides and food, while Lyft is a one-product company, just the rides. But we noticed that Lyft did make one acquisition that we think is undervalued by the market right now. And that deal was for FlexDrive. In 2020, Lyft paid$20 million to acquire FlexDrive. And today, FlexDrive is 24 different car garages across 15 US states. And what do they do? Well, they do the unsexy business needed for a robo-taxi. The charging, the cleaning, and the repairing of the cars. The goal of FlexDrive is to maximize the availability of each self-driving robo-taxi.

18:25Basically, the amount of time that the car is on the road making money hailing passengers. Now for Waymo to scale its robo-taxi biz, it needs a garage in every city it operates in for those unsexy things. But Waymo is owned by Alphabet, a tech company. They don't want to hire mechanics to fix the brakes. And they don't want to hire some dude to check the chassis. They don't want to get grease on their hands or buy vacuums to clean up the burrito that your buddy Timmy spilled in the backseat of the Waymo. Classic Timmy. But Lyft will do those things. And that is why Waymo partnered with Lyft to expand robo-taxis to Nashville.

19:00But we think it won't just be Waymo partnering with Lyft, and it won't just be Nashville either. No, no, no, no, no. We think Lyft will become the operating backbone of robo-taxi fleets nationwide. And get paid good money to do it. Or get acquired to do it. Either way, so Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies booking a ride with Lyft stock in 2026? In 2026, Lyft will either sink or soar. Yetis, Jack and I just illustrated the bull case for Lyft, that they become the operating backbone for scale and robo-taxis, the housekeeping service to robo-taxi hotels. But there's actually another bull case for Lyft, that it gets acquired, maybe by Amazon.

19:38Remember, Amazon has a robo-taxi brand called Zoox, and they want to be a national player ASAP. Well, Lyft has a ride-hail app with nationwide reach right now. So Amazon could acquire Lyft, And then they could also use the Lyft app to launch grocery delivery using the Lyft drivers already on the platform. And now pause the pod here, Jack. Side note, last year we interviewed David Risher, the CEO of Lyft. And who is he, Jack? He's a former Amazonian who loves Amazon and would probably love to get acquired by his old employer. Vesties, as you can tell, we're excited by Lyft's potential here. Now, on the other hand, we could be wrong.

20:13Waymo and Amazon could simply build their own garages to clean and charge their own cars, which would cut Lyft out of the equation completely. So add it all up, and in 2026, we think Lyft will either sink if robo-taxis eat their entire business, or in our opinion, soar if Lyft becomes an essential housekeeping service for robo-taxi fleets across all the companies. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? One single fish sold for a record$3.2 million at Japan's New Year fish auction, and it was purchased by the Tuna King. This ain't no subway fake tuna funa situation.

20:49It's all because economics is about confidence, and confidence is contagious. For our second story, Lego launched Smart Bricks this week, their biggest change since they added human figure Legos. But to protect against failure, they built a system, a system in play. And our third and final story, with their FlexDrive subsidiary, Lyft can do the dirty business of robo-taxis, the cleaning and the charging. Lyft, its stock will either sink or soar in 2026. We think it'll soar. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, we've got an update on the Venezuela situation.

21:26The president has moved his attention to Greenland again. President Trump said on Tuesday that he's considering a number of options to take Greenland, including by military force. But then his Secretary of State reportedly clarified their preference is to buy Greenland, not invade it. The only winner here, strangely, appears to be Nike, whose sweatsuit was worn by President Maduro when he was arrested, and now it's sold out online. And second, get this. In the country of Norway, 96 % of all new cars sold last year were electric vehicles. That's right. Nearly every new car sold in Norway right now is an EV.

22:01We should bring on some context. Two out of three cars on the road in Norway are still gas-powered, but nearly every new car, it plugs in. And finally, plot twist. For the first time ever, sales of smart rings earnings past sales of smart watches in 2025. The Oura Ring saw a sales jump at 49 % last year. Smart watch sales, they only grew like 6%. And at Apple, we just checked their financials. Sales of their wearables division, like the Apple Watch, actually fell last year. It's a really interesting fashion insight here. Apparently, more of us want to enjoy a real analog watch. Well, we got our Shinolas right here.

22:35And keep the technology hidden on our fingers. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yeti, Courtie Jaffe from lovely Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Push and play. Here we go. Hey, Nick and Jack. I was listening to today's T-Boy, and Jack said he wished there was a way that Instagram would wait five seconds before allowing you to open it. And I have some great news because there's an app that does that. It's called OneSec. And when you go to open a designated app that you want blocked, its screen comes up and it encourages you to take a deep breath and it does a countdown and then asks you if you really want to open it.

23:13So it's there for you if you want to use it. So full disclosure, Corti, I downloaded one sec and proud to announce I've only opened Instagram three times today for a cumulative like six minutes. I've only opened Instagram once because I did it during a plank. Oh, is that your policy? I'm doing it in plank mode. I can't scroll. I only scroll Instagram while I'm doing a full body flex. Yetis, you look fantastic for Ceviche Wednesday. And remember, today is the day. It's, what was the term we came up with? It's gift card redemption day. Yeah, it's gift card swiping Wednesday. We're trying to see if that'll become a thing.

23:50So for all of those who celebrate, enjoying that final 13 bucks on the Starbucks card. Use it. Don't lose it. If you know, oh, you know.

24:03And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Lon Lee, turning 49 years old down in Lake Worth, Florida. And happy birthday to Derek P. in Dallas, Texas. And Aaron, ran into her in the Presidio. Congratulations on all you got going on. Thanks for being a legendary Yeti and saying hi. We love that. And to anyone else who celebrated something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

24:26This is Jack. I own stock of Lyft. Nick owns stock of Nike, and we both own stock of Apple, Spotify, and ETFs of the S &P 500. And now I got to buy some Lyft. With almost half a million customers and over a trillion dollars of secure payments, Bill isn't new to intelligent finance. It's the proven way to simplify bill pay and maximize cash flow. Want to learn more? Visit bill.com slash proven for a special offer.