🧊 “Liquid iPhone” — Apple’s WWDC reveal. Bachelorette $$$ index. Warner Bros’ Bad Bunny breakup.

0:28This is Nick. so pumped for you. What a great story. But today, we got three fantastic stories for today's show. What do we got on the TV? For our first story, Apple kicked off their annual developers conference yesterday. So what did they launch? Well, Jack, they lost$90 billion in nine minutes. So it was kind of underwhelming. Oh, yeah. For our second story, bachelorette spending just hit an all-time high. But bachelors spend even more money. So we got the numbers on the batch party industrial complex and how guys spend differently than girls. And our third and final story is Warner Brothers.

1:02They are breaking up the brand. Warner Brothers is splitting into two different companies. And we'll explain it all with Bob Dylan and Bad Bunny. But yet is before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories for today's project. Yesterday for T-Boy Trivia, we asked you this question. What is the only product that once made up 10 % of all eBay sales? Is it A, A. Rolex, B. Beanie Baby, C. iPod, or D. Magic the Gathering? Well, the answer is ding, ding, ding, B. The Beanie Baby. Beanie Babies, the biggest boom, bubble, and bust in American history. Business history, Jack. Could you sprinkle on some context, please?

1:41At one point, Beanie Babies made more profits than Mattel and Hasbro combined. We're talking one product here, the Beanie Baby. That's it. Now, for Nick, Beanie Babies are a personal subject. Trigger warning here, but I once had a first edition Bucky the Beaver Beanie Baby, and I actually gave it away to sleepover. The reason that's a personally triggering story for Nick, sorry, financially triggering, what is Nick? Because Bucky the Beaver would have been worth like 40 grand right now, Jack. That's right. One Beanie Baby, Princess Diana Bear, retailed at$5 each, but sold on eBay for$500 ,000.

2:16And now we know what you may be thinking, besties. Beanie Babies are worth much less today than during their peak Beanie Baby mania moment back in 1998, pre-Y2K. That's why so many see Beanie Babies as a story of a bust. But Jack and I see the Beanie Baby as an innovation boom. Because Beanie Babies created the first ever corporate blog and pioneered e-commerce. Beanie Babies gave each doll a name and a backstory and a birthday, and that is what made them go viral. The business story is wild, but the founder of Beanie Babies is even wilder. Yeah, his name is Ty, and you're gonna hear a lot more about him on this show.

2:49Tie. That's why the company has a tie tag coming off of each Beanie Baby. And the reason we're telling all you this is because the Beanie Baby is the latest subject of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. The Best Idea Yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. So we got a link in this episode description to that show on the Beanie Babies. Check it out after this show. Because today's T-Boy is fantastic. We got three great stories, Jack. Let's get it. 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.

3:22Jack 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.

3:39Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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5:51For our first story, yesterday Apple announced it's turning all of its screens into glass. Liquid glass. Liquid glass. And here's our take. Apple made its walled garden a little bit more beautiful, but investors don't want roses right now. They want roots. Ah, the WWDC, Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference. It began yesterday. Jack, what are we looking at with this thing? It's five days where Apple tells the developer community what they're launching next and how they're updating their software. It's basically the Grammys for gadgets or the Coachella for Cupertino. It's an iRave for your iPhone.

6:29In 2023, the big announcement was the Apple Vision Pro. In 2024, the big announcement was Apple Intelligence, their take on AI. Well, in 2025, right now, those two things, the Apple Vision Pro and Apple AI, they both look like busts. We're not using either of them, are we, Jack? No, I've seen one person wearing an Apple Vision Pro and he looks absurd. He's at your office next. Yeah, he was. And he was actually using his phone to text, not the Apple Vision Pro. So like instead of an AI phone with super intelligent Siri, your iPhone kind of feels the same as it did two years ago. In fact, Apple had to take down an ad they produced showcasing Siri's new features because those new AI features don't actually exist yet.

7:10Plus, Jack, Apple's under a whole bunch of geo-judicial pressure right now, right? In both the United States and Europe, courts have ruled the App Store is a monopoly. Oh, and over in DC, President Trump is threatening to tax the bejesus out of iPhones if they remain made in China. For all of those reasons, Apple is the worst performer in the Magnificent Seven group of stocks so far this year. They're down 17 % year to date. For the first time ever, Jack and I had a conversation over the weekend where we considered selling some of our Apple stock. We haven't thought about that in 10 years. Well, guess what?

7:46I wish we had. Because as the event began yesterday, we looked at the stock chart, and it fell off a cliff. It's down another 3 % based on yesterday's news. $90 billion value gone in nine minutes. Call Nicolas Cage. It's gone in 60 seconds, man. So we know what you're wondering, Yetis. What exactly did Apple announce on day one of their Coachella of Cupertino? It opened in a surprising, but at the same time, unsurprising style. I'm sorry, Chuck. Is that Brad Pitt on the stage of the Apple event? Here's what happened. Tim Cook did a little cosplay yesterday. He pretended to be Brad Pitt, the F1 race car driver, because of the new movie that's coming out.

8:26Basically, Apple created a fancy movie trailer about F1 to promote their new car racing film that comes out this summer. But with Apple executives in the place of Brad Pitt. Okay, here's the problem though. That, as cool as that was, was the highlight of the event. And that's a bad sign. Because the rest of the presentation was pretty much all about making your Apple screens look like Swarovski crystals, right, Nick? Your iPhone, your MacBook, your watch, your iPad, your Apple TV, they will all look prettier the next time you update your software. Because of liquid glass. Liquid glass. Liquid glass is a new design infrastructure going across the entire Apple ecosystem of software.

9:06Yeah, it's going to make your apps look slightly see-through, like no more corners, the bubbles are going to have rounded edges, little bits of delight. The first time you update your software, you're going to be like, oh, this looks kind of cool. And then it's going to become the new normal. And the rest of your apps that are pre-installed on your iPhone are going to get slight improvements as well. Yeah, there were like 60 announcements yesterday. The main one was Liquid Glass. And now there were rumors, Jack and I, have been following about Liquid Glass being the software precursor to a new hardware device Apple would launch next year.

9:36After all, next year is Apple's 20th anniversary of the iPhone. Maybe physical glass is coming next year, so we're going to have a glass iPhone. Jack and I did find two patents related to glass devices for Apple. More on that for another pod. But if you were hoping for that or for something bigger, you didn't get it yesterday. I mean, Jack, Wall Street wanted updates on artificial intelligence. I don't think they got it, did they, man? And when they didn't get that either, investors started selling the stock. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Apple is a beautiful walled garden, but it's becoming a garden without a view.

10:11Now, Eddie, if you block out what's happening in the rest of tech, then Apple's walled garden looks pretty wonderful. I mean, your Apple devices are pretty. They all speak fluently with one another. They make you feel smart. They're connected. Apple products are amazing, let's be honest. But Apple's walled garden is starting to feel less lovely if you look out the window. Because out the window, you have Tesla and Google doing what Apple failed to do, self-driving smart cars. And Meta has gone wild with AI-powered everything, including AI glasses that could replace the iPhone. Look out that window.

10:44You see Google and Microsoft building nuclear power plants to power their massive artificial intelligence infrastructure for the future. Oh, and just last week, Amazon built an entire park for humanoid robots to practice delivering packages. So what's wrong with Apple? Maybe it's their obsession with privacy that's part of the problem. True, true, true. It's stifling their ability to innovate quickly. Or Jack, maybe Apple's just fallen into the trap of bureaucracy as a$3 trillion company. Either way, the way Nick and I yet, Apple is a wonderful walled garden, but relatively speaking, this garden's starting to look a little mid.

11:23For our second story, with summer wedding season here, we want to talk about a business nearly as big as the wedding itself, the Bridal Party Industrial Complex. We just got the numbers on bachelor and bachelorette parties. And spoiler, guys splurge more than girls do. Hashtag last call from all Hashtag final pour for Eleanor Hashtag hot mess for Jess Those are phenomenal bachelorette hashtags I've been collecting over the last few years, Jack Yeti's after 728 back and forth reply all emails You are officially back from the weekend bachelorette party Which means you just finished off Venmo Monday You had to settle up for all the expenses of last weekend's bachelorette activities We gotta talk about those numbers because the bachelorette party business has become a full-on industrial complex.

12:14We're talking nearly a billion dollars in value a year. In the past, it wasn't a bachelorette industrial complex. In the past, a bachelor or bachelorette party was just like one night out on the town at a restaurant and a bar. But because of the macro factors of social media, friend groups spread out, working from home, everyone is now flying to a destination. In fact, destination batches are up 78 % in the last six years. It's a huge commitment. You have to take off a day of work. maybe two days off to go to that trip to Madrid that you got invited to. Yeah, PTOs for your buddies, which is why big money, venture capital money, is moving into the bachelorette party industry.

12:51There's an app called Batch App that Nick and I didn't use for our bachelor parties, but they just raised$10 million from VC. And the business Scottsdale Batch is doing a million bucks a year in revenue, which is five employees. They're just helping organize batch and bachelorette parties. So even though a civil war erupted over the decision between Pilates and bottomless brunch, this remains the mini festival of loyalty for most of America. So Yetis Jack and I were fascinated and noticed that Business Insider crunched some numbers on this bachelor party industrial complex. And shocker, prices are up faster than inflation.

13:26Yeah,$1 ,400 is the price the average person pays for one of these parties. That's up 50 % since 2019. Now, women, interestingly, put more money into, like, the gear, the custom gear for the bride. You need the custom Etsy sign in order to properly christen the bachelorette house. But men spend more money overall at bachelor parties, spending$1 ,500 per guy on average. And why exactly is it we're spending so much on our end, Jack? Couple reasons. First, men are more likely to stay in costly cities for the party, like New York or Las Vegas. And they're more likely to book hotel rooms, not a shared house.

13:59While women are more likely to do rural retreats and share an Airbnb getting ready together. Shocker. The gambling and golf weekend in Las Vegas costs more than massage weekend in Palm Springs. But interestingly, regardless of gender, getting the invite to a batch party could be the source of financial stress. In fact, the number show it is. One out of 10 who attend a batch party spend over$3 ,000 for the weekend. And one out of three go into debt to pay for the event. Plus, you opened up a whole Chase Sapphire card just to book the pink party bus down in Nashville. I'm thrilled you're getting married.

14:32I borderline hope not to get invited to the party. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone doing Venmo Monday after a batch party? The greatest gift you can give to your bridal party is a spreadsheet. Yetis, Jack and I have done dozens of bachelor parties at this point. They're starting to slow down a bit, but they're still in the cards. One takeaway we've had, when invitations go out, put the prices clearly up front. The burden is on the organizer, often the best man or the maid of honor, and it's that little extra burden to share the prices ahead of time that's so critical.

15:04Clear is kind. We're not just talking about the total price of the Airbnb. Add in the total prices of all the stuff that's planned for and include the estimated meal cost too. Because at the prices we're talking about here, you need every item itemized. The house is$3 ,000. The boat rental is$1 ,000. expect to send$150 a day on meals and drinks too. That way, with all that transparency, if the person can't go, they can clearly say, Timmy, I'm sorry,$3 ,000 is out of my budget. And at an average price of$1 ,400 per person, that's a fair excuse. And if they can go, they can afford it, then they'll feel less stressed out about the uncertainty of what it might actually end up costing.

15:45Because when it comes to the bachelor party, be clear up front about the prices because clear is kind. The greatest gift you can give to your batch party is a spreadsheet. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. NetSuite. Yetis, remember we told you Warren Buffett reads 500 pages a day? Well, the world's greatest investor, he's not reading Moby Dick for the 15th time. No, we got Warren's reading the latest report from NetSuite Next. NetSuite Next is the next generation business management suite trusted by over 44 ,000 companies. And if you're curious how AI can open up new business opportunities, then you got to download their latest piece.

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16:54Get your free guide at netsuite.com slash tboy. Netsuite.com slash tboy. Netsuite.com slash tboy. Nutrafol. Ah, it's officially autumn, which means pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice cookies, pumpkin spice tacos. What about pumpkin spiced hair? Just kidding. Nutrafol. They didn't make a pumpkin spice hair growth supplement yet, but they did make their biggest upgrade yet. Nutrafol, it's the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand, and it's the number one hair growth supplement brand personally used by dermatologists. Because hair growth isn't one size fits all, Nutrafol offers different formulas for both men and women at any age or stage of life.

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18:04For our third and final story Just three years after merging Warner Brothers Discovery is breaking up the band Because Bad Bunny and Bob Dylan are independently great But combined, they stink Bugs Bunny Porky Pig Daffy Duck Looney Tunes I forget about Looney Tunes I do too, Jack Maybe because over the last 100 years Warner Brothers Looney Tunes have become the Pepsi to Disney's Coke And Coke is beating Pepsi in this Looney Tunes versus Disney situation. So in 2021, AT &T, the owner of Warner Brothers, announced it was going to spin off Warner Brothers and instead merge it with Discovery. The resulting company has been called Warner Brothers Discovery.

18:46They own movie studios, streaming services, and TV networks. But here's the problem, besties. Since combining, that business has gotten smaller and smaller and smaller, and the stock price has gotten down and down and down. Which leads to the news. Warner Brothers Discovery is now unmerging, three years after merging, to try out something new. Yetis, we're talking about the company that launched CNN Plus and then shut it down and then launched it again. We're talking about the company that rebranded HBO Max to Max and then went back to HBO Max again. We're talking about the company that canceled an already filmed Batgirl movie because they wanted a tax break.

19:23All those ridiculous reversals they did in just the last three years, but that company's now getting split up. In fact, as Jack and I looked at this de-mergering of a big company, we noticed there are only two winners in the saga, right? First is JPMorgan Chase. That investment bank advised on both sides of this deal. JPMorgan collected tens of millions of dollars on the merger, and now they're going to get tens of millions of dollars on the split up. The other winner is the CEO, David Zaslav. He's the top media mogul in Hollywood, despite his company shrinking revenues for eight straight headquarters.

19:56But besties, this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Once this mega media business is separated, it's going to make a lot of really important sense. Here's why it makes sense. You're going to end up with an old company and a new company. Now, the old company is called Global Networks, the TV channels that feed into old school cable bundles. Global Networks is going to include all the old stuff. They're going to have the businesses of TNT, CNN, and the Discovery Channel. They're all profitable, but they're all shrinking as the cable business dies off. The new company is going to be called Streaming and Studios.

20:30It'll include Warner Brothers TV and movie studios, DC Comics, and HBO. Yeah, kind of all the good stuff, Jack. We're talking Superman, Game of Thrones, White Lotus, Harry Potter. That's all in the new business. All the exciting stuff that's still growing and still driving subscribers. So we know what you're thinking, besties. Why is Warner Brothers Discovery splitting off the good young stuff from the old bad stuff. And putting them into two companies that have their own separate stocks. The reason is our takeaway. That is all, folks. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Warner?

21:04Picture Bad Bunny and Bob Dylan. Separate, they have value. Together, they stink. The creation of an old company and a new company, it actually goes back decades in American finance. We've seen it before. Sometimes it's called a bad company and a new company. And the reason is that assets can be individually good, but bad when they're combined. And here's the way, Jack, and I think about it. Bob Dylan is a musical legend. He's still making money, but he's older and he's not growing. He doesn't have new stuff. On the other hand, Bad Bunny is young. He's growing fast. He's exciting and he's got his future ahead of him.

21:38Now, both of these artists have value separately, but if they were forced to collab with each other, that wouldn't sound very good. The towns, they're changing in a weird direction if they had to merge. Yeah, because one plus one usually equals two. But forcing two things together that don't belong together? Well, one plus one can equal zero. Investors don't want to own stock in a company that has both a streaming business, a growth business, and cable TV. A shrinking business. So Warner Brothers Discovery is splitting its young and growing business from its old and shrinking one. Just like Bad Bunny and Bob Dylan.

22:13Separate, they have value. But together, they kind of stink. Now that's all, folks.

22:23Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Yesterday, Apple unveiled Liquid Glass, a new software design that makes all the apps look prettier. Apple's walled garden is beautiful, but don't look out the window because you'll be jealous of what the rest of tech is working on. For our second story, the Bridal Industrial Complex is a nearly$1 billion a year business. It's$1 ,300 per bachelorette,$1 ,500 per bachelor. But remember, the best gift you can give your wedding party is a spreadsheet. And our third and final story is Warner Brothers Discovery. They're splitting up just three years after their big merger.

23:01Like Bad Bunny and Bob Dylan, separately, they have value. But combined, they stink. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, lab-grown salmon just got FDA approval and has hit their first restaurant up in Portland, Oregon. It's the first ever FDA approval for a lab-grown fish, and it went to Wild Type, a San Francisco-based scientific food company. Yeah, they use real salmon tissue to multiply the meat in a lab, and they're aiming to fight global food scarcity. Leo DiCaprio actually invested. Of course, DiCaprio invested. And second, Gemini, the crypto business, confidentially filed to IPO.

23:40They're trying to ride the coattails of Circle, which had such a good IPO last week. The Winklevoss are going to be the Winklevibe, baby. Remember the Winklevoss twins, the guys who suffered the original zucking? Yeah, Mark Zuckerberg took their social media idea and started Facebook. But now they're crypto guys. And finally, the newest dating app we've seen launch is Lovejack. It's a new dating app that gives you just five words to convince the other person you're worth a date. That's right. Your profile is just one picture and five words. That's it. You get to update those five words every day.

24:11So say something clever. Yeah, Jack and I have been tracking this new trend of niche dating apps. And basically, this is more of a test of your creativity than anything else. What's important is that you're concise and clever, not like cute or chiseled. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by a couple of buddies up in Seattle, Washington. Amazon has the world's largest internal LGBTQ plus employee support group. Now, you may not be shocked by that because Amazon is the largest employer of human beings in America, but the details of this group are pretty cool. Well, first of all, they call themselves Glamazon.

24:43Yeah, yeah. You got to brand this thing. That's lesson number one if you're working there. It also started back in 1999 by just a handful of employees. But today, Glamazon spans 60 countries with 40 ,000 Amazon employees. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And if you want to hear about the rise, fall, and in our opinion, rise again of the Beanie Baby, we've got the perfect thing for you to listen to right now. We've got a link in the episode description to listen to the best idea yet. 45 minutes on the wild ride of Beanie Babies. Okay, this guy, Ty, this is insane. Wait to hear what Ty does. He actually was a used vacuum salesman who becomes a Beanie Baby billionaire.

25:20What a story. And his best trick as a used vacuum salesman, when the guy opens the door after he knocks on the door, he'd toss a handful of dirt onto the floor and then vacuum it up live to show he's that good a salesman. That's all part of the Beanie Baby story. Enjoy the best idea yet, and Jack and I will see you tomorrow. And don't mention Bucket the Beaver, for Nick's sake.

25:46And before we go, a shout out to Yeti Chad Geyer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who had a correction for the pod. If you enroll in a 401k, just know that the whole withdrawal is taxed, not just the gains, because it wasn't taxed in the first place. And a happy birthday to Yeti Anna Hauer Howland, turning 30 years old in Minneapolis, crushing it as a brand new mom. Congratulations, Anna. Let's see some pics of baby Olivia. And Matthew Conway, happy ninth birthday over in Excelsior, Minnesota, an engineer in training right here. Happy anniversary to Peter and Katie, celebrating 11 years together. They're getting married next June, and we met these two at our Seattle Live show.

26:24And a shout out to Yetis Aram Al-Ismael and Ward Al-Majid, who are both listening to T-Boy in the 110 degree heat of Katif, Saudi Arabia. We got your back, guys. We hope you got some air conditioning. And finally, congratulations to Hadley and Nate for an epic year of school. Today's your last day. Crush it down in Southern Cal.

26:49This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Disney. Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb and Apple, and we both own some Bitcoin. Bitcoin, name that. This intelligence podcast is sponsored by Business Travel on Hotels.com. Does booking business travel feel like another job? Hotels.com makes booking work trips easy and rewarding. It's easy because you can set your preferences once and get results tailored to your business travel needs every time. It's rewarding because with Hotels.com's free rewards program, you can save instantly on your next work trip and earn rewards for future travel. Book faster with confidence at Hotels.com.

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