👊 “Kirkland vs. Trump” — Costco’s tariff lawsuit. Estée Lauder’s AI perfume. Dell’s $250 donations. +TBOY LIVE TOUR

0:28This is Nick. 50 % chance you go to jail. Yeah, yeah. The odds are not in your favor. All right, dude, the humble brag's over. Let's move on to the show. Everyone on the list this year, try not to commit a financial felony. Jack, three stories for today's team boy. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, Costco just took on the biggest risk in business today. It has sued President Donald Trump. It's Costco's Kirkland versus Trump's tariffs in a battle in federal court. For our second story, Estee Lauder just invented an AI chatbot that sells you twice as much perfume as you otherwise would have bought.

1:05Besties, this is huge. This perfume bot is the first AI with an ROI. And our third and final story, Michael Dell is giving$6 billion directly to 25 million American kids. I'd press my cha-ching button, but I can't find it, Jack. Every American child nine years or younger is about to get a brokerage account with a whole bunch of moolah. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, fantastic mix of stories for the T-Boy Wednesday, Jack. As hyped the last couple of days, we have an announcement today. Oh, there's a gift we've been working on for months. We wrapped it up and we are ready to open it.

1:41Here it is. Our very first live podcast tour nationwide in 2026. The T-Boy live podcast. tour nationwide. And next year, besties, we're calling it our IPO tour. Now we should sprinkle on some context. We've done live shows before in San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Chicago. They're fantastic. They feel like rock shows of business news. The vibes are at an all-time high every single time. But Jack and I noticed that the Yetis were flying in to see our one-off shows from all across the country. In fact, some of you flew in from different countries to see us at past live shows. So next year, we are going to reduce your travel time by coming closer to you.

2:24Yeah, we'll come to you this time. Seven cities throughout the year, you can see us perform a live podcast, interview a guest live, and much more. Hey, we did a T-Boy earnings report live in Chicago. That was wild. Took questions from the audience. I think we're going to do that at each show. But Jack, I got to ask, well, I already know the answer, but why are we calling it the IPO tour? Because it's our in-person offering. I-P-O. And today, besties, we're announcing our first four cities. Austin, Texas on February 25th. Arlington, Virginia on March 11th. New York City on April 8th. And lovely Los Angeles on June 3rd.

2:55There are three more shows in the second half of the year. We'll announce those next year. We got to leave a little extra for you. Tickets go on sale Friday, but we wanted to let you know today. You can check out the links to get more info. We put a link to buy tickets in this episode description. We can't wait to see in person because the IPO tour will be the best one yet. Jack, I found the cha-ching button. let's hit that IPO baby we are so pumped for this see you on the tour Jack let's hit our three stars 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 cause we ready to go we can't wait no more so just start the show

3:48Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

3:58Bureau Premium Non-Alcoholic Beer. All right, Yeti, it's a little behind the scenes here. Before our New York City live show back in April, Jack and I went sober for two weeks. True story. Couldn't risk getting sick. I didn't want to be groggy. I couldn't afford a hangover. It was New York, baby. Okay, but Jack, celebrating the wins is what we do. And so for our live shows, we crack open something special. So we drank Biro, the premium non-alcoholic beer brand co-founded by Tom Holland. Yeah, I actually first saw it at my grocery store. Delicious tastes like a celebration, feels fantastic, and looks legit.

4:31More on the looks in a sec. And if it's good enough for the actor who played Spider-Man, it's good enough for us. You see, it pairs well with a pickleball game, a profitable earnings report, or with the best podcast. So yeties, if you want to celebrate the wins with all the taste of a premium lager or IPA, but none of the alcohol, there's no better choice than Bureau. Okay, pause the pod. Did we mention the can is straight up gold? This thing will stand out at every one of your next parties. Trust us, we've done it. Only beer we know that actually upgrades the scene like a promotion. So besties, if there's a win you're celebrating every day, Bureau is the non-alcoholic brew brand you got to bring.

5:06So use code T-Boy for 20 % off your first order at BureauBrewing.com. Monarch. Yetis, one lobster roll, no joke, 50 bucks on Nantucket. And why is that a problem, Jack? Because we're going to Nantucket this summer on a joint family T-boy trip. It's a write-off. It is expensive, but we will travel with peace of mind because our finances are organized in Monarch despite the lobster rolls. Monarch is the personal finance app that tracks everything, accounts, investment, savings goals, and spending. Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off, just$50 with promo code TBOY. Monarch shows visually how much you're spending this month compared to the average month, which is really useful.

5:44So like, honestly, this month, been a doozy jack. Booked a lot of travel, but I know the future months won't be as bad after lobster roll season. You know, because Monarch showed you. Last year, you had a spike in May for travel bookings, but a dip in the summer because the travel was already paid for. You can even ask Monarch's AI assistant anything about your finances. Like, what are the key changes in my spending so far this year compared to last year? And how much was spent on lobster rolls last summer. Use code TBOY at monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core at half off, just$50.

6:14That's 50 % off your first year at monarch.com with code T-Boy. For our first story, Costco just sued the Trump administration yesterday demanding tariff refunds. It's a risky and bold PR bet. Do Costco customers care more about low prices or Trump politics? Yetis, here is the showdown. Costco versus the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That's an actual lawsuit filed Friday in federal court. We got the text of that lawsuit yesterday, so we're going to break down the details of that text like it was aisle six. Costco's lawyers are arguing that President Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs are illegal.

6:57We have covered that issue before. The Supreme Court is deciding that issue right now in Washington, D.C. Jack, could you sprinkle on the reminder for us over there, please? The argument is that Congress levies taxes, not the president. And tariffs are taxes. And since the president did the tariffs, not Congress, they're illegal. Ipso facto, cancel the trade war. Now, at best, it could be any day now that the Supreme Court decides on this case, or a decision could not come for a few months. Either way, prediction markets give Trump's tariffs just a 26 % chance of surviving this Supreme Court decision.

7:29So let's dive in T-boy style to the lawsuit. Besties, Costco is yelling out loud and clear that they think Trump's tariffs are illegal, they want a refund, and they would like to speak to a manager. Hold the hot dogs and toilet paper. We can see the damage and impact of Trump's tariffs in Costco's Kirkland fruit aisle. Yes, we can. Because Costco said this spring it's paying tariffs on bananas and pineapples, that it buys from abroad. Now, it's not passing the cost of those tariffs onto us consumers. Right. So their produce section is probably losing money. Yeah. Because of Trump's tariffs. The smoothies in the food court, probably a lost llama right now.

8:10But Costco is passing on the tariffs related to flowers. So you may be noticing you're paying a price hike premium for those peonies. Costco is eating the cost of tariffs for necessities like fruits and vegetables, but it's passing them on for splurges like flowers. That's the status quo. Either way, Costco hates this because its core mission is to save money for customers. Tariffs are taxes on Costco, which are ultimately taxes on Costco customers. So they are suing to end the Trump tariffs and receive a refund. Although Costco didn't really say how much they have paid in tariffs yet, right, Jack?

8:42No, which I wish they would tell us. But Nick, if Costco does get the refund, like they're asking the judge to grant them, will they then refund customers who paid a premium on those peonieses? I think they're going to have to speak to a manager. I'd like to speak to a manager, please. I got my receipt right here. It's a messy situation, but a bold move in court by Costco. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our Kirkland buddies over at Costco? This isn't just a legal move. It's a marketing move. Costco's putting their value proposition before the president. Yet he's added all up. And this is the boldest pushback we have seen on President Trump by any corporation by far.

9:19Dozens of other companies filed the same lawsuit against these tariffs as Costco did, but none of those companies are household names. And for that reason, Costco knew that this lawsuit would amass huge media attention. I mean, it's Costco versus Trump. It is Kirkland versus the president. Costco even mentioned Trump's name 13 times in the lawsuit, something no other company would dare do. True. And Nick, they even asked the court to ban President Trump from levying tariffs like this ever again in the future. It's possible Costco bans Trump from ever going into Costco and buying gold bars in the future.

9:52Every other corporation is afraid to say anything negative about Trump, and Costco just sued him in court. But here's what we were thinking. Maybe Costco calculated it would be net positive PR because this is consistent with their mission. Costco probably just got placed on Donald Trump's enemies list, alongside ABC, James Coney, and now Sabrina Carpenter. But Costco's core mission is to save people money, and this is them showing they will honor that commitment at any length. Even if it means they have to sue Donald Trump, the president of the United States. They're putting their value prop before the president.

10:27For our second story, Estee Lauder just hired Google to take on the biggest challenge in beauty, sell perfume for$200 without letting people smell it. And it worked. It worked. It's a rare case of AI actually boosting revenues. Yeti is the top performing beauty category these days. It ain't skin or hair, it's your schnoz. I love that word. Such a great body part nickname, the schnoz. Because fragrance sales are surging across the economy. Yeah, the one thing Gen Z will actually splurge on, men or women, is scent. It's a perfume pop cologne crush. Six months ago, we did the story on smell maxing.

11:06Oh, that was great. I remember that. Gucci's fragrance sales are growing thanks to men. But the big winner in the fragrance category is actually Estee Lauder. Estee Lauder, the French-sounding but not actually French cosmetics company. They're being powered by perfume and cologne sales right now. Estee Lauder, they own Tom Ford, Joe Malone, and La Labo. And their stock is up 35 % this year on the smell economy. But the biggest challenge overall, according to Wall Street Journal reporting, is selling perfume online. How can you convince a customer digitally about something totally not digital, like how something smells?

11:44As far as we know, iPads don't have a little spritz machine in the corner of the screen. I just want to say schnoz again, but Jack, can you sprinkle on some context for us, please? Smell is already the hardest of the five senses to describe with words. Besties, think about this. We literally don't have the right words for smells in the English language. Brene Brown would say that we lack the right vocabulary. For instance, the average man can only identify three emotions, happy, sad, or pissed off. Similarly, we have a limited vocabulary of scents. Good, bad, and smells like popcorn. And smells like burning rubber.

12:17For some reason, we all know what that smells like. You see, Yetis, we can all describe how things look, sound, and feel, but not really how they smell. And that is a corporate challenge. So, Estee Lauder hired Google to invent an AI bot specifically to solve this challenge. As Jack and I call it, Mission Olfactory Impossible. They sent an engineering team to the Joe Malone factory and told them to train Gemini AI to evaluate perfumes. And guess what? AI cracked the code on scent. It found a formula to describe scents that we can actually understand in the written word. You see, the dichotomy of fragrance actually falls into seven main categories.

12:54Like wood, amber, gourmand, etc. There's also five modern categories of scent. Aromatic, musky, leathery, etc. Now, all 12 of those categories are related to the ingredients of the perfumes. Well, put Jack. Now, besties, that's the technical side. But equally relevant in this industry is what the scent evokes. This perfume is like a pear orchard in the spring. Jack, this cologne is like a bucket of blackberries in the rain. It smells like Cape Cod on the coast. Is that a great white shark right over there? Don't get in the water. Then, after the ingredients and the experience, Google's AI actually studied the perfume salespeople.

13:30Yeah, the Estee Lauder lady that confronts you as you enter Bloomingdale's. Because the salesperson ties it all to the customer need. Like, this rose petal is a perfect fit for a wedding. Add it all up, and Joe Malone now has an AI scent advisor you can find on their website that connects the ingredients to the categories, to the emotional descriptions of the perfumes, to the sales pitches. But Jack, pause the pod. Can this bot actually convince you to drop 250 bucks without ever actually smelling it? The bot swears it smells like a cornfield. Nah. See, I don't have the words. I don't have the words to describe the smell.

14:08I'm kind of sold on your Cape Cod shark perfume, Jack, in the meantime. So man, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Estee Lauder and Google? The unicorn of AI is ROI. Yetis, what did Jack and I mean by that? Well, the biggest challenge in artificial intelligence is getting a return on your investment. Look, the sellers of AI are making money, think NVIDIA, but the buyers of it, which is every other company, are they seeing a return on their investment in AI? Because from ChatGPT to Amazon's AI ShopBot to McDonald's AI DriveThru, billions are getting invested, but few have grown revenue enough to justify the huge cost.

14:44Well, we just found one that does. Estee Lauder's Perfume Chatbot. Get this, besties. is in two months, online shoppers using this perfume bot purchased perfume at twice the rate at those who didn't. It's a rare mythical beast. That's huge. A practical AI application that demonstrably improved sales, in this case, by 2x. Add it up, and Estee Lauder and Google built a rare unicorn. They found an AI with an ROI. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

15:19Top 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.

15:50When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. And listeners of the show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. So just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

16:43food in my house. Expert appliance recommendations for the win. Shop grandappliance.com.

16:55For our third and final story, the founder of Dell Computers is giving 250 bucks to 25 million American kids in their Trump accounts. 25 million children are about to become investors in the stock market. And we think this will change the nature of birthday presents. Yetis, let's start with Mikey Dell. Founded a$100 billion computer business and stuck his name on it. Dude, you're getting a Dell. Yeah, well, that's not all you're getting these days, by the way, because... Jack, what did Michael Dell say his success was as an adult? It wasn't his parents or a book or his mentors. It's that he saved a little bit of money every week as a child.

17:34That's right. Because in the 1970s, interest rates were really high. So those savings accounts 60 years ago compounded into big money when Michael Dell was a kid. Today, you need more than a savings account to keep up with rising costs. You need stock market growth. And Trump's one big, beautiful bill passed earlier this year lets that happen. It created tax-advantaged accounts for all American children. That's right. The Trump kid accounts. We covered them in July. Kids born in Trump's second term even get a$1 ,000 check of seed money from the government in their Trump accounts. But here's the new news.

18:11Michael Dow will now contribute$6.25 billion of his own money for kids in America born from 2016 to 2024. He and his wife are donating $250 to 25 million kids aged one to nine years old. Besties, it is a baby funding boom. Yetis, the best way to learn is to earn. True. Well, 25 million kids will learn the beauty of the stock market by earning money while they're in kindergarten. Even if they're in detention. But yetis, let's go through the fine print of this because many of you are parents right now who... Who want to know if their kids are eligible for this money. Yeah, to quote the notorious B.I.G.

18:48and ludicrous, you're eager to get that money. Trump accounts, also known as 530A accounts, start on July 4th, 2026. The 4th of July next year is when parents can activate these accounts for their kids. And any American kid from newborns to nine-year-olds will have money waiting for them if their parents open those accounts after July 4th of next year. So Basties, if your kid was born in Trump's second term, they will get an auto-deposited$1 ,000 in that account. My youngest son Oakley, cha-ching, I get$1 ,000 for him. And if your kid was born between 2016 and 2024, then what are you getting, Jack?

19:25you might get 250 bucks from the Dell family. Cha-ching, Wilder and Brooks are getting 250 bucks each. Jack, I'll just press it for you. I know we pressed it once earlier, but we didn't press the cha-ching button yesterday. So I feel like we could. Now, Nick did say your kid might get 250 bucks from the Dell family. Yeah. Because this latest news, the money is only going to kids born in zip codes where the median incomes are below$150 ,000 a year. Right. So kids living in wealthy zip codes won't get the money, at least not the money from the Dell fam. So I hate to say it, but Nick's kids, he lives in San Francisco, it's a high-income city.

19:59They're not getting any Dell money. No, we're not getting a Dell, Jack. But Nick, the Dell's donation,$6 billion, a lot of money, but it's only 4 % of their net worth, and yet it's gonna have an enormous impact on American families. Yeah, yet he's followed the math here. Let's dive in T-boy style. You see, 250 bucks becomes 1 ,000 bucks after about 15 years in the stock market, assuming 10 % per year returns, Which would become$9 ,000 if family, friends, and donors or the government can contribute an additional$250 a year. $9 ,000? That's like, you could buy a car or a year of public school tuition.

20:34You're getting into down payment of a house territory, Nick. Or you could buy a bunch of rare LeBouBou dolls on eBay with that kind of cash. So this big donation from one wealthy family has a huge impact on 25 million families. And that leads to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in America with a kid under nine years old? It's our prediction. These Trump accounts will change the nature of child gifting. Yetis, Jack and I are parents and we just have too many toys in our house. Over Thanksgiving, man, I bought Maxi like 12 Hot Wheels cars. I actively tell my parents, family, and friends to not buy us more toys or clothes for the kids because we have too much.

21:13Well, Jack's kids hate him for that, but we set up a 529 education savings account instead for our kids, and Jack and I put money into those accounts in lieu of birthday presents. Well, the Dells finished their announcement yesterday with a CTA. They called on family, friends, and wealthy philanthropists to join them in making direct cash contributions to America's kids. Imagine if instead of a$50 Tonka toy truck set or an American Girl doll, you could contribute 50 bucks for that kid's stock market account instead. Imagine a future with fewer Elmo's as birthday presents and more ETFs as birthday presents.

21:50Right now, it's hard to gift a kid's stock because kids probably don't have stock accounts. But starting next year, they will have them thanks to these free Trump 538 stock accounts. We hope each kid's account gets like a QR code to make a Venmo contribution to their Trump account super easy. That's why we're saying this could change the nature of child gifting. Fewer toys, more Mattel stock.

22:17Jack, could you all whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? Costco sued the Trump administration in federal court, demanding a refund of all the tariffs that they've paid. It's Kirkland versus Trump, but it's more marketing than legal. They'll put low prices above presidential politics. For our second story, Estee Lauder hired Google to build an AI bot to sell perfume online, and it has 2X sales. It worked. It's the rare AI application with a measurable ROI. That is an AI unicorn. And our third and final story is Michael and Susan Dell. They're donating$6.25 billion directly into kids' Trump accounts.

22:54With every American kid having a brokerage account, we think stock gifting will be the new Tonka truck American Girl doll. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Jack, can you press the emergency siren button? Do we have one, guys? No, we just have a cha-ching button. Because Sam Altman just called Code Red at OpenAI. He said, stop what you're doing and pay attention. Because for most of this year, OpenAI has been everywhere, launching everything. The clear number one in consumer AI. But not anymore. Gemini 3 from Google and Anthropic are stealing customers from ChatGPT.

23:29It's a reminder that first mover advantage is just a temporary thing, not a guarantee for long-term success. And second, Ben, the Bitcoin is having a, to quote Lexus, December to remember. The price of Bitcoin fell to$84 ,000 on Monday, but then jumped to$92 ,000 on Tuesday. It fell 5 % to start the month and rebounded more than 5 % on the second day of the month. Bitcoin's still down 30 % from its all-time high after a painful November. An interesting reason for the wild swings in Bitcoin prices is leveraged investments. You invest a buck, but you get five bucks of exposure to the Bitcoin market.

24:03Besties, let us know if you want a story on that. And finally, New York City is getting three new casinos, two in Queens, one in the Bronx. Casino operators wanted one in Times Square, but Manhattan rejected it. Interestingly, this casino plan is being led by billionaire and hedge funder and owner of the Mets, Steve Cohen. So right next to Citi Field, where the Mets play, will be a hard rock casino sometime soon in the future. Although we'd bet it won't actually help the Mets. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Will Martin from lovely Cork, Ireland. And this is a correction. Last week, we did a story on the NFL potentially becoming the first intercontinental league thanks to supersonic jets.

24:43But Will points out that there already is an intercontinental sports league, Super Rugby. At one point, Super Rugby included teams spanning 12 different time zones, from Japan to South Africa, to the UK, to Argentina. Today, it's still around, but mostly only in the Oceania region of the world. But still, rugby was the first league that went intercontinental. Yetis, you'll look fantastic today, and we know you'll look fantastic when we see you in person at our live shows on the tour next year. No guarantees here, but Nick and I are planning to do an after party, and we hope to see you there. Let's guarantee it.

25:21What the heck? You're so excited to see in person the T-Boy IPO nationwide tour. It's the best possible experience of this show, and it's the highlight of Nick's in my year. It is. It is just the highlight of everything we do. We can't wait to see you there. We got links in the episode description. Tickets go on sale Friday, but mark your calendar today. I'm just going to throw this out there. Live tickets to our show, great. gift. Hanukkah, Christmas, birthdays, snag them right now. Excellent point. Thank you, Jeff. Great point. Print them off, put them under the Christmas tree, wrap them up, bring them and we'll sign them.

25:51I mean, we can keep going. In the meantime, enjoy, grab your tickets. If you know, you know.

26:01And before we go, a happy belated birthday to legendary Eddie, Devin McLaughlin, El Devmeister, turning a dirty 30 on the Upper East Side. Jack, I think this is like our fourth year giving Devin a shout out. We love it. And happy 28th birthday to Francesca in Hackensack, New Jersey. And Paxton Sewell's turned five years old in San Diego, California, listening on the way to daycare and enjoy your future stock account. And a big shout out to Anwar, a Yeti listening in Central Park right now. Actually, Jack, I ran into Anwar while I was on a run in Central Park. I see. And Anwar was listening to our show while I ran into it.

26:34It was incredible. Legendary. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own some Bitcoin. Bitcoin named Ben. This episode is brought to you by Bill, the intelligent finance platform that helps businesses scale with proven results. Yet he's paying and getting paid. That is a pain for small and medium-sized businesses. Jack, did you send the invoice? Did they see the invoice? Did you remember to remind them to see to pay to remember to pay the invoice? If you drop the ball in any one of those steps, you don't get paid. Nope.

27:07And you're missing out on cash flow. You should not have to chase your customers. This isn't tags. So powered by AI, Build does all that simply and automated so that you don't have to. ACH, credit card, check, international wire transfers. They probably do carrier pigeon Bill Pay if that's how you want to get paid. Bill is the intelligent finance platform trusted by nearly half a million businesses and 98 of the top 100 US accounting firms to manage, move, and maximize your money. They have securely processed over a trillion dollars in real transactions. That is proven infrastructure you can actually trust.

27:38So besties, talk to an expert at bill.com slash proven and get$150 gift card as a thank you. That's bill.com slash proven. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details.