🐭 “DisneyWings” — Spirit should sell to Disney. Chipotle’s dopamine app. SpaceX’s AI pivot. +Mascot $$$

0:28This is Nick. acquired an AI startup for$60 billion. 60 bill because Elon shockingly has stopped caring about Mars. For our second story, Chipotle has been working on a wild plan to turn around the brand, turn their rewards app into a video game. And our third and final story is Spirit Airlines, the pinata of the skies. Just tossed up a GoFundMe page. It needs a bailout. Your taxpayer Player dollars might end up owning 90 % of spirit, but Jack and I have a way better idea. This is good. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, happy playoff season to all those who celebrate. The NBA, the NHL, grab some beef jerky and an Aperol spritz.

1:09Enjoy the games. It got us thinking about the most lucrative position in all of sports right now. And what is that position, Jack? The mascot. Ain't the players, it's the mascot. Because professional sports mascots are making bank these days. Get this, Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers orange mascot gets paid$250 ,000. Which is almost as much as Pennsylvania's governor. No joking, that's a fact. But Benny, the Chicago Bull, makes$400 ,000. And Nick, the basketball season's only six months a year. I'm sorry, Jack, Harry, the Atlanta Hawk, makes$600 ,000 a year. But topping them all is Rocky, the Denver Nuggets mountain lion.

1:45Because Rocky's pulling in$625 ,000 to be a... Not surprised though, because this guy can pogo stick, trampoline, double backflip, slam dunk. That is some halftime entertainment. Yeah, most bachelor's degrees can't pull that off. Yetis, these mascots, they're getting paid like a Goldman Sachs VP. And I hope they get health benefits, because that Denver Nugget mascot, dude, he could injure himself. He's like the Warren Buffett of doing the wave jack. Although we should point out that Mr. Met only gets paid 89K. Yeah, because you know, the Mets. And if they break their losing streak, he still only gets 89K.

2:19Now I'm topping six figures, Jack. Want a pay raise this week, besties? Then Jack and I know what you got to do. Dress up like your company's logo. Become a pro mascot. And then do a backflip in front of your boss. Always got to bring the pogo sticks to the one-on-ones. Jack, let's hit our three stories. 15 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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5:12For our first story, deal alert, SpaceX just bought the rights to acquire Cursor AI for 60 billion bucks. After two mega AI acquisitions, SpaceX isn't even a space company anymore. No, it is not. We will tell you what it is. But first, Jetty's, if you spent one week in Elon Musk's Google Calendar, you're gonna get PTSD. day. On Monday, he ignored the French government's request that he testify about X, his social media company. And then on Wednesday, Elon hosted the Q1 earnings call for his main company, Tesla. The stock is up 4 % after hours, by the way. Oh, and then what's happening this coming Monday on Elon's cow, Jack?

5:51Elon Musk versus Sam Altman in federal court. That's the trial. It begins on Monday. The biggest billionaire beef of all time is this Monday. Yeah. And instead of preparing for that? Elon's hosting a Tesla earnings call and, oh, wait, we forgot one tiny thing, didn't we, Nick? I think he takes Saturdays off, Jack. I think he takes Saturdays off. Yesterday, Elon Musk's SpaceX made the third biggest acquisition of the last two years. That's right. SpaceX announced on X that it bought the rights to acquire Cursor AI for 60 billion bones in the next 12 months. If SpaceX walks away, they still owe Cursor$10 billion for the year of working together.

6:27I'm sorry, Jack. Pause the pod. Could you sprinkle on some context to that$60 billion acquisition number, please? That is a huge, huge number. The only bigger M &A deals in the last two years are Paramount acquiring Warner Brothers Discovery and SpaceX acquiring XAI for$250 billion back in February. So SpaceX has made two of the three biggest acquisitions of last year. But Nick, what is Cursor AI? Jack, it is a vibe coding app. Actually, let's just call it the dominant OG vibe coding app, if you will. Because before Claude and OpenAI launched their code products, engineers had already fallen in love with Cursor AI's ability to build computer code using simple English language prompts.

7:08Before you called up your buddy Claude, you'd say, hey, Cursor, I don't want to do this programming right now. Why don't you build me an auction app for some rare collectible hoodies? And now this coding app will have the financial backing of a$1 trillion space business. So Jack, let's recap that Elon Musk Google calendar for a moment, if you will. Just on the SpaceX side of things, in the last 60 days, they have committed to spending up to $310 billion on two separate leading AI startups. Jack, that's not an AI strategy. That's an AI arms race right there. So before their world record breaking IPO in June, when Venus crosses with Mercury, we should probably know the answer to this question.

7:48Is SpaceX an AI company or a space company. Because it looks like Elon's switching the company's industries. And we've seen that happen before at Tesla and Twitter and now SpaceX. A pattern emerges. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at SpaceX? The mission statement isn't a promise. For Elon, it's a placeholder. Yeti, Elon frames these new AI ventures as stepping stones that will eventually fund a mission to Mars. As Elon says, AI is power constrained here on Earth. Space has the advantage that it's always sunny. So he's going to power these data centers with solar panels. What we're saying here, Jack, I think, is that SpaceX's near-term plan is not colonizing Mars or the moon like we used to think it was.

8:31It's to put AI data centers in space. And we've seen this happen before. Let's look at Tesla. Did you notice, Nick, in December, Tesla's mission statement formally changed from sustainability, which it's always been, to quote-unquote building amazing abundance. Yeah, that's a shift, Jack. Or how about at Twitter, where the mission shifted to, from free speech to boosting specific speech. And now SpaceX. Their mission statement is still technically colonizing Mars, but in reality, their mission statement has shifted to. From space to AI. The mission statement at Elon's companies aren't promises, they're placeholders.

9:06For our second story, wear the jersey of your favorite NHL hockey team and get a free burrito. That's actually core to Chipotle's turnaround plan because they're turning their rewards app into a daily dose of dopamine. Jack, we're gonna need some napkins over here. What's going on with Chipotle stock? It spilled all over me, man. Clean up on aisle six. It's down 49 % from its all-time high. So for Chipotle to make its stock hot again, they're going back to the kitchen and they're grabbing some ice. Here's the deal. Buy one, get one free to celebrate the start of the NHL playoffs. Walk into your local Chipotle wearing the team jersey.

9:43You buy a burrito, you're walking out with one for free too. Messier? Sure. You get a free burrito as well. Extra messy. Every Crosby fan in Pittsburgh is tailgating Chipotle right now because of this deal, Jack. Fuck people. They're loyal. So let's give Chipotle some credit here. Yeah, because Chipotle could have spent this free burrito budget on a TV commercial, right, Jack? Instead, they're buying burritos for Bruins fans. And now we're covering it on the podcast. Instead of buying media, Chipotle is winning earned media. That is a double dip, baby. So this hockey jersey, buy one, get one free deal, it's a clever alternative to paying for an ad.

10:19And Jack and I call that an ad-ternative. Yes, we do. But the bigger story here is that Chipotle is gamifying their rewards app like no other business. That's what we find fascinating here. Chipotle has gone full Nintendo on their loyalty app because they've taken engagement hacks from the video game industry to stimulate orders for their tacos. That's right. Like last summer, Chipotle launched super fan leaderboards. They showed where you rank among Chipotle fans in your state in terms of like how many orders you've done this year. Yeah, apparently our buddy Timmy just fell out of the top 10.

10:50We're sorry, Timmy. And they gave out 10 ,000 free burritos per week for 13 straight weeks to the leaders of those leaderboards. And then last month, Chipotle launched a burrito vault. And what is that, Jack? It's an actual game where you guess the ingredients of a burrito based on a picture of a sliced in half burrito. Literally gamifying. If you get it exactly right, you win free burritos for an entire year. Game. And this summer, they're going to host the seventh annual Chipotle trivia competition, Jeopardy style, in the Chipotle app. I'll take how do you spell barbacoa for$300, Jack. What is, I have no idea how to spell or pronounce barbacoa.

11:24Spell check for the win. Last year, Chipotle gave away prizes to 60 ,000 rewards members for this trivia game. That's how much in demand it was. So here's what's happened here. Chipotle has turned a transactional app into an in-game experience that makes Donkey Kong jealous. They've boosted queso demand by creating side quests. So when you open the Chipotle app, you don't know if you're gonna just order food or if you're gonna play a burrito-relevant game to win food. And the result is that Chipotle's rewards program now has 21 million members. Sprinkle on the context, Jack. They're catching up to Starbucks, the industry leader with 35 million app members.

11:58So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies gamifying over at Chipotle? Dopamine. It's not a drug. It's a demand driver. Ah, dopamine, Yetis. The feel-good chemical in our brains. A hormone that pops off like, you know, when you're celebrating at a birthday party enjoying some cake. Or in the next case, a quarter birthday. Dopamine, though, it's been getting dragged recently. Like, it's associated with your Instagram addiction or your sports betting addiction. It's all for that dopamine drive. But Jack and I think this story shows how dopamine can be delivered for good and get customers to come back to you.

12:30Chipotle has thrown the kitchen sink of ideas at this app to drive your daily dopamine hit. They got a leaderboard, trivia, one-day-only games, one-hour-only games for double protein deals. All pretty harmless, by the way. Kind of healthy for you, right, Jack? But a lot of people are coming back to the Chipotle app once a day to see what the deal is today to try to get that dopamine hit of saving a couple bucks. And try to remember how to spell barbacoa. Yetis, how is your brand making someone seek one more ounce of dopamine? That is the question. If you want return daily customers, How much dopamine are you dishing them?

13:03Now, 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. No, we've been avoiding hiring someone to wear those hats instead of us, especially the Von Dutch one, because hiring and training can take forever. Well, I'm proud to say that we are hiring right now at T-Boy, and this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Because sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. So besties spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results.

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15:32But yetis, you know that friend in the group text chat who always responds late and like misses the joke about them? You know, Jack? That's Spirit Airlines. It's Spirit Airlines, the middle seat of the airline industry. Uber carpool with wings. Yeah, check your bag on Spirit. It's like a hostage situation. You don't have to be getting that thing back, Jack. Now, they filed for bankruptcy in August for the second time in less than a year. Even by Spirit standards, that's an achievement, Jack. Although, full disclosure, my family had to fly Spirit. Yeah. It was the only direct flight. Nick, we showed up late.

16:03We missed the flight. Spirit took great care of us, booked us on the next flight. I really appreciate Spirit. I think there was some confusion there. But besties, now Spirit is in trouble again. And it all comes down to one number. $2.24 a gallon. That's what Spirit was banking on fuel costing for the rest of 2026. But with the war in Iran, the fuel prices have doubled from that number of$2.24. Which added an extra$360 million in cost this year. Which, for a nearly bankrupt company, makes them bankrupt. Which leads to the news. The Trump administration is close to a bailout deal to save the Spirit.

16:42The Wall Street Journal and CNBC are both reporting this. a$500 million bailout loan that would give the United States the option to own up to 90 % of Spirit Airlines. Now, here's what Jack and I find fascinating here. There are three truisms in life that we have noticed. Death, taxes, and airlines get bailouts always. Yeah, those are the three. Because back after 9-11, the whole airline industry got bailed out. During COVID, every airline got taxpayer cash. And when you add it all up, it's created a frustrating moral hazard, as economists would call it. Every airline CEO knows that they'll get bailed out if they ask Uncle Sam when they're in a pinch.

17:22So these airlines can then operate recklessly and dish out dividends they can't afford because someone's going to help fill the bill. They don't need to keep money in their emergency piggy bank because the government, us taxpayers, is their piggy bank. But Jack and I think airlines should be allowed to fail. It's hard to say, but like the lenders would lose money and that's the risk they took. The reason we think airlines should be allowed to fail is that a bankrupt airline would sell their airplanes to somebody and they'd sell their airport gates to somebody and that somebody would be a new airline startup with no debt.

17:53Probably a more impressive and impactful company and we need that fresh blood in the airline industry. I would love if a startup was able to launch without any of the frustrating. You really jumped off the spirit bandwagon pretty quick over there, Jack. At least with this bailout deal, Besties, the U.S. government would interestingly get some equity in Spirit Airlines. And this administration loves buying stock of U.S. companies, don't they, Nick? Oh, totally. Yeah, Jack, remember last year we did the whole story on the Pentagon buying stock in a rare earth minerals company. Or how the administration is now the biggest shareholder in Intel, the made-in-USA chip company.

18:28And Intel stock has tripled since then. It's actually near an all-time high right now. So it's actually been a good deal for the taxpayers in the case of Intel. And it looks like besties before this weekend, the Trump administration could have earned ultimate diamond status on Spirit Airlines. On Spirit, I don't think they call it diamond. They call it like, they call it like granite status. Rock. I think it's rock. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Spirit who we've got a fantastic idea for? Disney should acquire Spirit Airlines. Disney should acquire Spirit. You see, Yetis, in 2025, one of our big business wishes and predictions for the year was that Disney buys Spirit.

19:05The airline had just filed bankruptcy. We thought the timing was perfect. Totally. But now the timing is more perfect. Oh, absolutely. Like, picture Disney wings. Nonstop Disney-themed flights on former Spirit Airlines. They will fly you from anywhere USA to Disneyland or Disney World. I mean, Jack, the pilot's got mousy ears. Goofy's dishing out the drinks. And then Tinkerbell pancakes are getting served at 30 ,000 feet. Mid-flight in-aisle theatrical performances and shuttle vans that take you to the theme park from the airport with Disney Plus streaming on all the seats. Naturally. Besties, you would pay a premium for that ticket because Disney vacations would begin at the gate.

19:41Disney has a new CEO, a former theme park exec who knows the importance of hospitality. And Spirit needs a partner who creates value. And no one demands a high price quite like Disney. And OpenAI just killed their$1 billion investment with Disney. Oh, yeah. So Disney's got a billion dollars. They could buy Spirit for half that. It's a deal. Plus, the Trump administration doesn't want to own Spirit forever. So Disney wouldn't brownie points with the administration. Imagine the White House press conference. Remember, besties, JetBlue tried to buy Spirit, but that got blocked by regulators a couple years ago.

20:14Disney acquiring Spirit would not get blocked. So add it all up, the timing could not be more perfect for this. Instead of a government bailout, let Disney buy Spirit. Turn that pixie dust into profits, baby. And they'll all live happily ever after. Let us know what you think in the comments, Jack. Let's head into the takeaways. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? SpaceX bought the rights to acquire Cursor AI for$60 billion. Nick, that's$300 billion in AI acquisitions in just two months. And it's because Elon's mission statements aren't a promise, they're a placeholder.

20:52For our second story, Chipotle is gamifying their app Nintendo-style with daily engagement apps and one-day deals. It's-a me, a Chipotle! To get people thinking about Chipotle every day, they're dishing out Dopamine Daily. And finally, the Trump administration is using taxpayer money to bail out Spirit Airlines and taking 90 % stake, according to reports. But instead, Disney should buy Spirit. Take Disney wings to Disney World. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the Iran war has messed with food, fuel, furniture, and fertilizer, but now it's messing with condoms.

21:29Carex, the company that makes one-fifth of condoms worldwide, is raising prices to 30%. Yeah, latex, petroleum-based right there. It proves once again the breadth of the war in Iran's impact. Oil seeps into everything. And second, the newest investor in OpenAI, it's Robinhood, the stock trading app. Actually, it's Robinhood, the publicly traded venture fund. That's right. which bought a$75 million stake in OpenAI. So there are now at least three different ways for regular investors like you and us to own a piece of OpenAI before they go public, before the IPO. There's Robinhood's Venture Fund, there's a bunch of ARK ETFs, and there's VCX, that company we talked about a few weeks ago.

22:06Jack and I, we got you back. And finally, the ongoing 2026 trend of bizarre business thefts continues and we're following it. A man was charged in the strangest Lego stealing scheme that we have ever seen. That's right, because a California man bought Lego sets, filled them with uncooked pasta, and then returned them to the store for refunds. Let me clarify. He bought Lego sets, removed the Legos, kept them to play with, I guess. And then he filled the boxes with what I'm assuming is elbow macaroni, so that when you shake the box, it sounds like there's Legos in it. Yeah, he did it over 70 times, made$34 ,000.

22:44So Jack, if you find a tortellini in that Star Wars Lego set - Nick, this Lego theft schemer, he's a criminal, but he's arguably the best father ever. Because his kids have a ridiculously sick Lego collection. It's also a very wholesome theft. Like, if you're going to do it, you're going to do it. Like, give some carbon, some gluten to the people. Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because it is Thursday, the new Friday means some T-Boy trivia. Jack, what do we got? Today, the NFL draft begins in Pittsburgh. So our question in trivia for Mr. Roger Goodell, because we know you're listening, what university has the most draft picks?

23:22In other words, basically, what university has had the most NFL players? Number four is Michigan with 422 NFL draft picks. Okay, number three is Ohio State with 503 NFL draft picks. Number two is Southern California. USC has 533 draft picks. And number one for the most draft picks in NFL history is Notre Dame. Oh, Notre Dame is Notre Dame with 538 draft picks. Congratulations. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, you are glowing in that slamming, slamming t-shirt. I like that ATMT. That's a fantastic look, man. They make the best t-shirt you've ever worn. Yes, they do. But besties, if you are hanging with a buddy today, if you're in line for lunch, if you're jumping into your boss's office because you're trying to become the mascot, we know what you should really do.

24:16Share today's episode with your buddy. Tell them H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. That is how we grow the show every day. Have you had the best one yet? And if you disagree with our Disney acquisition deal, let us know in the comments.

24:32And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Aria Vasquez, turning 11 years old in Irvine, California. Jack, we've given her a shout out for six straight years. Wonderful tradition. She has grown up with the best one yet. Yes, and a doe, a sorrow. It's her birthday and her final stretch of grad school down in Atlanta. Congratulations. Happy birthday to Daniel LeHeve, the hiking pro of Denver. And Jordan Vander Hayden, happy birthday celebrating down in Dallas. Happy birthday to Jessica Sanchez in Michigan. And Ismael Sufiani, enjoy that birthday over in Milano, Italy. Happy birthday to Victoria Caroline Baker, the fantastic painter she IPO'd 22 years ago.

25:14Oh, and Claire Badaracco, thank you so much. Grazie mille for that Nutella Cornetto. That was fantastic, Jack. She brought it over to me to surprise me as we were prepping the show. Thank you so much, Claire. And happy four-year anniversary to Diane and Robert Binns in Texas. And Shalira Disney just published her book, Hello AI Helpers. Check it out. She's a legendary Yeti. And a shout out to Yeti Oren Adler, who pointed out the Boston Bruins are playing against the Buffalo Sabres and have a player named Rasmus Dahlin. And you know what that means, Jack. Dahlin at Duncan can root for Dahlin on the Sabres.

25:49I guess Dahlin's rooting against him, actually. That's incredible. and it makes me think that I need four pups of hazelnut right now. Anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

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