🧊 “Sell America” — Greenland’s stock drop. Netflix’s Matt Damon formula. Aldi’s parking lot.

0:28This is Nick. is causing a U.S.-European divorce. It's a trade civil war, but everyone in business is wondering, is it too late to stop it from happening? For our second story, Netflix just reported earnings yesterday, but the bigger news is what Matt Damon said about Netflix. Because Matt Damon just revealed Netflix's secret formula for films. And our third and final story. Last week, we asked you on the pod if you want us to do a story about Aldi, America's fastest growing grocery chain. Well, the response was, yeah. Ah, ah, yeah. So we want to tell you about Aldi's parking lot test because it's the key to why they're beating Trader Joe's.

1:06No one's talking about it, but it's the Aldi parking lot test. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, the mix. Love the mix, Jack. Wonderful work today. Dry January is almost over, but honestly, the decline in beer has been brewing for years. Anheuser-Busch InBev, they own 400 different beer brands, but their stock is down 50%. Craft beer? only your extremely stubborn friend is still ordering IPAs. Yeah, we see you, buddy Timmy. But Jack, can I please tell you about Dos Equis? Because Dos Equis has brought back their spokesperson from the brighter days. They've brought back the most interesting man in the world.

1:43He speaks Russian in French. He gives bear hugs to wolves. His feet don't get blisters. His shoes do. And he can parallel park a train. This famous legend was born in 2006. True story. He retired from TV in 2016. And now actor Jonathan Goldsmith is 87 years old and the face of Dos Equis once again. It's a Hail Mary marketing strategy. Yeah. Nostalgia never dies. Nostalgia never dies. But Jack, can we re-share one funny element of this whole story? Yeah, 21-year-olds today, they were barely alive when the most interesting man began. Illegal drinkers were still in diapers when these original ads came on.

2:19For Gen Z, it's not, I remember that guy. It's, why does this guy speak in a Spanish accent? So Dos Equis had to update the most interesting man's catchphrases for a Gen Z audience. In today's commercials, you hear him say, his phone is addicted to him. Starbucks orders gift cards of him. His Ubers order him Waymos. Besties, we don't always podcast, but when we do, we make it the best one yet. Stay thirsty, my friends. Let's hit our Trey stories. 15 years before this song Two boys from the northeast met in a 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

3:13Start the show First, a quick word from our sponsor.

3:22So yeah, he's Jack's instituted a new business model for his Airbnb hosting. And Jack, what is it? Here it is. Host equals guest. Yes. I funnel all my revenue from being a host on Airbnb into one bank account and use that same bank account to book travel for myself. And basically it's Jack's host guest bank account for when he hosts and when he's a guest somewhere else. When I lived in the city neck, every time my apartment was available on Airbnb, it would get booked like that. I mean, think about how often are you away from home? You got the bridesmaid, you got the shower, you got the bachelorette, you got the wedding.

3:53That's three weekends away just for one wedding right there. Plus, you got to visit your mother. Naturally, well, that's a lot of potential hosting that you could be doing on Airbnb. Let someone else stay at your place while you're away. Take that host money and spend it when you're a guest somewhere else. Have a business model like me. If you want to travel more, hosting more is a great way to make it happen, financially. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Top hats, baseball hats, Von Dutch hats. We wear so many hats on this podcast. Honestly, we're not great at all of them.

4:23No, 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. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.

4:53And 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.

5:19For our first story, the president has escalated his desire to own Greenland into a trade civil war with our allies. It feels like Liberation Day all over again, so we're hoping Trump chickens out. We're hoping for another taco moment. Yetis, you've seen the headlines. President Donald Trump wants Greenland. Anyone standing in the way, they're going to be financially punished. We know because over the weekend, Donald Trump threatened 10 % tariffs on Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and four other countries. Unless they get out of the way and let him buy Greenland by February 1st. Quick reminder, tariffs are taxes on Americans.

5:58So what the president is talking about is taxing Americans because Europeans are blocking our attempted annexation of Greenland, which is their territory. And mark your calendars because those tariffs raised to 25 % if the United States hasn't annexed Greenland by June 1st. Why is President Trump so fixated on Greenland? He says it's because of national security, trying to get rare earth minerals, maybe even their abundance of fresh, frozen water. There's an interesting freshwater story in this as well, but on Sunday, he also said it's because he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize from Norway. Quick reminder, Nick, I'm going to go Econ 101 and Math 101.

6:37Taxes are tariffs on Americans. So we are taxing Americans because Europeans are blocking our attempted annexation of Greenland, which is their territory. And Jack, pause the pod. I got to have you circle the calendar too, because those tariffs raised to 25 % if America has not annexed Greenland by June 1st. I feel like we just typed in an equation to Excel and it's saying does not compute. Well, most of the business community, especially over in Davos, not a fan of this situation. Even the polar bears did not see this coming, we should point out. Which begs the question, why is Donald Trump so fixated on Greenland in the first place?

7:12We did do a story on this last year. There's a lot of value in Greenland, national security, rare earth metals, an abundance of fresh water, which we may do a story on because that's a whole new angle. But Trump also actually said on Truth Social on Sunday, one of the reasons he's so interested in Greenland is because he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize. But either way, the president is saving the biggest punches for our historic allies as he believes they have been freeloading on American security for decades. It's not a trade war. It's a trade civil war. It's the United States against its friends.

7:43Meanwhile, we're seeing an opposite and equal reaction. Our friends are moving closer to our enemies, like Canada, which just announced a trade deal with China on Monday. At Davos, which is the burning man for billionaires. Yes, it is. Good for you if you got a ticket to that. Canada's president got a standing ovation after announcing that trade deal. So besties, add it all up. And for the first time in history, Greenland just made the US stock market red. Stocks fell 2 % yesterday because Europe is punching back. And the name of this concept right now is sell America. This is the sell America trade.

8:18The European Union actually has a list of symbolically American products that they're going to toss$100 billion of retaliatory tariffs on. All right, Jack, can you read off the list? Because it kind of looks like a wall at Applebee's when I'm reading this thing. Boeing airplanes, Tennessee whiskey, Florida orange juice, Harley Davidson, and of course, Iowa soybeans. If you live in Paris and you want to buy a Yankees hat, not possible for a cheap price anytime soon. But that's not even the end of the tariff story. Because Trump is also trying to create a quote-unquote board of peace to compete with the United Nations, with Trump and only Trump as the veto power.

8:54But when France said they would not join this group, Trump threatened 200 % tariffs on French wine and champagne. Okay, so seeing all this, Denmark isn't waiting to see if Trump will follow through on his tariffs. No, no, no, no, no. the Danes have already started selling America. Literally. Starting Tuesday, Denmark started selling$100 million of U.S. treasuries because they're just not into the U.S. anymore. And yet it's not just Denmark. The sell America trade is hot again. The U.S. dollar just fell and U.S. stocks dropped 2 % yesterday. Yesterday, we had the largest drop in the value of the U.S.

9:29dollar since Trump's Liberation Day last April. Europeans are even trying to redefine the MAGA abbreviation. And what are they doing in hats, Jack? Make America go away. The EU commission president even called for a permanent economic independence from the United States. And buying a Bordeaux for Saturday night is probably going to cost you like 400 bucks. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in this trade civil war? There are off ramps everywhere. The question is, will Trump taco this time? We hope so. Yet the strangest thing about this Greenland situation is that we probably could have achieved a lot of this through a peaceful strategy instead.

10:06Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO ally of the United States. We have a military base in Greenland already. And in the past, we had as many as 50 military installations during the Cold War. So when you understand that fundamental history, questions you may ask are, did we try asking them if we could reopen those bases instead of doing a full takeover? And pay them rent while we do. Did we ask Greenland if we could invest money to mine there and extract rare earth minerals instead of owning the entire giant island. Did we try framing it as a business transaction instead of have imperial conquest?

10:39Jack, everything you just described, that's basically the art of the deal. And those deals are still achievable. These could be off ramps that end this Greenland issue, end this trade civil war. Yetis, remember the acronym, TACO? Trump always chickens out. Well, today, Trump speaks at Davos. Will he taco? Will he stand down from his aggressive threats? After all, most of the American public is frustrated by high prices and not in support of American conquest overseas. There are plenty of off-ramps to this trade civil war. We, and pretty much every economist and business person, hopes he takes them.

11:15For our second story, Netflix just announced earnings, but Matt Damon just announced Netflix's movie formula. Which is way more interesting. And And spoiler, every Netflix action movie must have a major action scene in the first five minutes. Besties, if Siskel and Ebert had a brokerage, they'd be giving Netflix earnings two thumbs up. They announced yesterday record revenue and growth of 18%. And for the first time in a year, Netflix gave us an update on the number of subscribers. 325 million Netflix subscribers. Jack, can you sprinkle on some context, please? That is more paid subscribers than Spotify or Amazon or any company to our knowledge.

11:53Combined. Not combined, not combined. To-dumb, I meant to say to-dumb Jack. Oh, also, Netflix updated their bid to acquire Warner Brothers. It's now an all-cash offer. That's right, a$72 billion splurge. Except the shareholders aren't happy. As they would put it, nobody wants this. You know what we're talking about, Adam Brody. But we found a much juicier drama about Netflix, and we found it in the Joe Rogan podcast episode last week. Yetis, this is fascinating. Matt Damon just revealed Netflix's secret formula for making movies, and it makes sense. But first, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, they grew up in the same neighborhood just outside Boston.

12:33Just outside Boston. They've actually done 14 films together, but Jack, get this, only two of them took place in Massachusetts. Sounds like a trivia question. I'm going to think about it and answer it at the end of the episode. Good Will Hunting, and we'll save it for the end of the pod. Matt and Ben, they're Hollywood's most lucrative Bostonian bromance since Pedro and Big Papi. The latest movie these two are doing is called The Rip, and it's on Netflix right now. It's an action thriller about two Miami cops who find a stash of cash and then have the moral ethical dilemma of what to do with it.

13:01Sounds a lot like Bad Boys with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, but much wider. Oh yeah, the sequel was better than the first. Well, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck went on Joe Rogan's podcast last week to promote their movie and they ended up spilling the beans on Netflix's secret strategy. Matt Damon told Joe Rogan that the standard action film has three acts, with one action scene in each act. Strategically, a director or studio will save the biggest budget action scene for the finale of the film. The town, the born identity, the departed, they all follow that action movie formula. But get this, Netflix has a different formula.

13:35They actually asked Matt Damon, hey, can we get a big action scene in the first five minutes? They need to hook you fast, and they want to keep you on track with the plot. So Netflix also asked Matt Damon, Hey, can you reiterate the plot three to four times in the dialogue to make sure the audience is still with us? Which is why in the movie The Rip, Matt Damon's character awkwardly repeats why the cops need the cash right in the middle of the movie for three times in a row. Anyone who's paying attention is like, I got it. We should point out Ben Affleck interrupted Matt and pointed out Netflix doesn't do this for all their films like their award-winning film Adolescents.

14:11But still, Matt Damon revealed Netflix follows a recipe for a lot of their films. Like, content is a cake mix. It's all science, not much art. All right, guys, just storyboarding this here. We're going to need a big bang at minute three, an explosion at minute four, and let's repeat the reason for the revenge at least 12 times. I got it after seven repeats, okay? You know we're talking about Stranger Things. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Netflix? The force making everything we consume feel more TikTok? it's second screen syndrome. Yetis, the reason why Netflix in particular is so focused on keeping your attention, you're watching at home.

14:48As Matt Damon says that Netflix told him, people are distracted on their phones while they're watching Netflix. It's not about attention, it's about retention. Now, traditional movies, which make all their money in theaters, they do not compete with phones, so they do not do this. You're not allowed to have your phone on at a movie theater, so traditional Hollywood movie makers don't worry about TikTok. But Netflix does. Netflix movies, they compete with Mr. Beast, who tests 50 titles to maximize clicks on YouTube. And Netflix movies compete with formulaic dopamine doses served up on your Instagram reels.

15:17I mean, Jack, we did a story on this last year, even in audio. Songs are getting shorter and courses are moving up earlier in order to win on Spotify. We interviewed Duolingo's CEO. Yeah, he knows that the biggest competition isn't Babel. Sorry, is it Babel? I think it's Babel. It's TikTok. And Netflix knows it too. Oh, guess what? Podcasters, public speakers, even your girlfriend or boyfriend, they know it as well. Unless your audience has their phone put away somewhere, their phone is competing with whatever you're saying. Besties, the force making everything we consume more like TikTok, it's second screen syndrome.

15:49A case of second screen syndrome. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Monarch. When I had student debt, I tracked my progress on an Excel spreadsheet I manually updated each month. Oh, I was Jack a spreadsheet jockey because when he was paying off his student debt, Monarch didn't exist yet. Well, one year ago, I proudly killed that spreadsheet I'd been building for 12 years. RIP spreadsheet because Monarch is a way better solution. All your financial accounts are linked to Monarch. Every credit card, checking account, brokerage account, even our mortgages, live balances updated in real time. I'm still paying down my mortgage and Monarch gives me the visibility and tools to do it.

16:30You can use it Two, create savings buckets and financial goals in Monarch. Set yourself up for financial success this year. Are you familiar with the Sankey diagram? I had no idea what it was yet. Well, once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's brilliant. And Monarch visually shows you what you're spending. And we did not make up that term. Your investment portfolio, Monarch compares it to the S &P 500 for you. Set yourself up for financial success in 2026 with Monarch. The all-in-one tool that makes proactive money management simple all year long. Use code TBOY at Monarch.com for half off your first year.

16:59That's 50 % off your first year at Monarch.com with code T-Boy.

17:29For our third and final story, bigger than Trader Joe's, Aldi is on track to be the number two grocery chain in America behind Walmart. You can see why by looking at the cars in their parking lots. If we're going to tell the story, Jack, can we please talk about Brooklyn's hottest new club? Aldi. Yeah, house Aldi. New Yorkers are lining up at 6 a.m. to be the first 100 into America's newest Aldi. We repeat, engineers, publicists, investment bankers, the interns for those investment bankers, the VP investment bankers, they're lining up for a German grocery store. Now, I studied abroad in Germany.

18:07Yeah. And I can tell you that Aldi is known for their German frugality. And in this economy, German frugality, that's the new fetch, baby. And here's the news. Aldi is adding 180 new stores in America this year. The goal to hit 3 ,000 stores and become number two behind only Walmart, and they're on pace to do it. Here's the other news. Aldi has $29 billion in US revenue last year, which is more than Trader Joe's for the first time ever. I was choked on my orange chicken Mandarin after I heard that, Jack. Now, Nick, to make sure that German study abroad money paid for itself, Aldi is actually an abbreviation for Albrecht Discount.

18:43It was the Albrecht Discount store, and it was two brothers. One of them went to America and ended up owning Trader Joe's. The others stayed in Germany until more recently when they came to the States. So the two are actually cousins. And just like Batman was born in the darkness, Aldi was born in a post-World War II German inflation situation. What do we have right now in America? Yeah, an inflation situation. But besties, what Jack and I find fascinating about Aldi is the Aldi unlock. Their unlock is the Ikea principle. Ikea realized they could save costs on furniture and sell at a lower price if they let the customer assemble the furniture.

19:20Honey, where's the third part for this schmorgen sofa? Well, at Aldi, you basically assemble the groceries. That's right. Aldi's German approach is actually kind of a German stereotype, Jack, if you will. Deutsche Sparsamkeit, or German frugality. Yeah, we can say that because Jack studied abroad there in his three quarters German. Besties, you want some examples of this? Well, what happens if you want a shopping cart at Aldi, Jack? You need to insert a quarter to unlock the shopping cart, and you only get your quarter back if you bring the shopping cart back to the place where you found it, so they don't have to pay someone to corral those things.

19:50Jack, when I'm in aisle six at Aldi, why is the can of beans still in the giant shipping container? Because they save money by letting you unpack it yourself. What's that thing your grandmother used to say, Jack, all the time? I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself, and that's what Aldi expects of you too. Okay, the Aldi business model, no prepared foods, no bakery, and no deli to waste time while you're asking for extra mayo on that sammy. And they pack all the food into just 10 ,000 square feet, one quarter of a typical grocery store, so they save on real estate and overhead too. Add it all up, and the Aldi kind of feels like a post-Ford Germany situation in there, Jack.

20:24Yeah, it's a little harsh. Yeah. But each example of austerity signals the brand's dedication to offering the lowest price. Get this, even the music is cheaper at Aldi. There's no music, because paying for one of those enterprise Spotify accounts would cost a lot of money. But the key profit puppy for why they're in business on those razor-thin margins is that 90 % of the products are private label. Which is even higher than Costco with their Kirkland brand. You don't need a German degree to understand that. The Aldi business model kind of feels like a German fairy tale. Yeah, it feels grim. And yet every U.S.

20:59town wants an Aldi across from their Trader Joe's. Including high-end U.S. towns. Two-thirds of their new openings are in high-income zip codes. Including that 32-story luxury tower in Brooklyn with the line out the door filled with investment bankers. With the investment banking interns. Filling up those giant blue Aldi sacks. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who all wanted us to do this story and want us to do more so we may have to do another episode on it? Aldi. If you want to know Aldi, look at their parking lot. Yetis, one Wall Street analyst made an interesting observation about Aldi's parking lots.

21:36You see every type of car in them, from a Mercedes all the way down. The bigger perspective here for Jack and I, if you want to understand the store's customers, look in its parking lot. Cars are strong signals of income, wealth, and status. And Aldi seems to have all of them. Remember, besties, frugality is not cheapness. Value, paying what something is worth, that has universal appeal. That's why wealthy Karen demands to speak with a manager about a $2 fee. Yeah, well, Aldi's parking lot, it's a reminder that not wanting to waste money, that transcends economic status. And it's a heads up that if you want to understand a business, look at the cars parked in the parking lot.

22:13Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Ceviche Wednesday? As Trump tries to take Greenland, Europe and Canada appear more united than ever to resist. It's resulted in a trade civil war. There are plenty of peaceful off-ramps and we, and most of the business community, hope the president takes them at Davos. For our second story, Netflix told Matt Damon about their film formula. You must repeat the plot several times. Because the audience is distracted by their phone, and this is second phone syndrome. Hey, hey, hey, Yetis. We see you there. Put it in do not disturb. Okay, okay. Third takeaway, what do we got?

22:45Aldi is on track to become America's number two grocer, thanks to Deutsche Sparsamkeit. It's das German frugality. Whether you're driving a Beamer or your car is busted, that has appeal. That is the parking lot test. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, update from OpenAI. They're going to unveil their first hardware device in the second half of this year. This is the thing they're developing with Johnny Ive, who created the iPhone. In fact, there's wild new speculation that this could be either a pen, which knows what you're writing, or AirPods that are always listening and always watching because the AirPods have front-facing cameras.

23:23Wow. And second, De Beers has cut diamond prices for the first time in a year. Natural diamonds, which De Beers specializes in, is taking a hit from the lab-grown diamond industry, which is booming. So De Beers, the biggest diamond distributor in the world, is cutting prices on their rough diamonds over three quarters of a carotid size. So if you're on the fence about popping the question, that news from De Beers could be your bicycle. Let's do this, guys. Come on, let's do this. And finally, the Moon Hotel. A space startup has revealed plans to build a hotel on the moon and book rooms for$1 million a night.

23:57They caused a media stir by taking reservations starting now. Talk about manifesting. I mean, they're not even in inner space yet, much less outer space. I mean, Jack, we did have a business wish this year that SpaceX would launch the Olympics in space. You're going to need a hotel for that.

24:16Now, time for the best fact yet. This one, an answer to yesterday's T-Boy Tuesday trivia. What do we got, Jack? Daniel Ek is no longer the CEO of Spotify. Last year, he appointed two co-CEOs. Now, Jack specializes in German, but Jack, I got to ask you, in Swedish, what is the similarity between the names of those two new Swedish CEOs? Alex Nordstrom and Gustav Söderström. Jack, sprinkle on a Swedish translation for us, please. Both of their names end with ström, which in Swedish means stream. We repeat, the new co-CEOs of Spotify have last names that have the word stream in them. That's like an ice cream business being founded by a man named Cone.

24:57We could go on for this, Jack. We could. Yetis, you're looking fantastic for Ceviche Wednesday. And if you want to get this pod every day, the best thing you can do, we love it. The algorithms love it. Netflix loves it. Tap to follow us so you get us every day. There's a little plus sign somewhere wherever you're listening. If you don't tap to follow us, Nick and I are going to repeat the plot of this episode at least a dozen times to each episode, which is going to really annoy you. If you know, you know, besties. Jack and I will see you tomorrow.

25:31And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Emi Ilbele, the tiger over in Greenwich, Connecticut. Happy birthday to Carmen. If you know Carmen, you know. And Cynthia, happy birthday and congrats on 10 years with your husband. Thanks for listening all the way in Guatemala City. Enjoy Cancun. Happy birthday to Stevenson John Lewis in Brooklyn, New York. And Wingtong Wang, happy birthday. Enjoy the 32nd down in Sunnyville. And happy anniversary to Michael Dravo and Erica down in South Florida. And Kristen F., enjoy the supply and the demand over at Emory's Business School. You're going to have a blast.

26:02And Elizabeth Dwyer, congratulations on launching Found Fish. If you're looking for cool gifts, my sister-in-law, Jack, she has the eye. She has found the fish. If you know, you know.

26:16This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Amazon. Nick and I both own stock in Spotify and Apple, and we both own ETFs of the S &P 500.