This is Nick. This is Jack. And today is National Peanut Butter Day. Turns out, this economy runs on it — 90% of American households have a jar of PB on the shelf. According to the National PB Board (real thing) 56% of us prefer creamy, and 44% prefer crunchy (good choice). But there’s more — your nut butter consistency is telling of your personality…

• If you’re a groovie smoothie: You’re more likely to be introverted, get speeding tickets, book spontaneous trips, take fewer risks at work, and stay in on a Saturday night. 

• If you’re a crunchy monkey: You’re more likely to be goal-oriented, run marathons, file your taxes late, watch Game of Thrones, arrive late at work, and fall in love at 1st sight.

It’s an economy and it’s an identity.

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1) Starbucks Barista Championship 

Starbucks just announced the 1st ever North American Barista Championships. 

The Details: Each US and Canadian location gets 1 nominee for 15K total participants. It all starts with Districts in March and ends in June at the Finals in Seattle where the winner is crowned. 

• The competition will be pumped with knock-out rounds and challenges where the best will present their original creation. It’ll be a real-life House Cup meets Hunger Games. 

• The winner gets a trip to Costa Rica where Starbucks R&D kitchen is. And their coffee-coctions will blow up on TikTok too, no doubt.

• The only downside: It won’t be streamed on ESPN (wah wah).

There are 383 billion possible latte combos (Bloomberg confirmed). With all the Karens’ custom creations, baristas deserve some recognition. But why is Starbucks really doing this? 

The Takeaway →

Because sometimes PR is really about HR. Some unrest has been brewing at Starbs recently. Last year, 8K workers voted to unionize — demanding better pay, hours, and less complex drinks. So this Barista Battle is more like the “goodwill games.” To make good with dissatisfied employees, Starbucks is putting them on a pedestal. 

2) Netflix’s Live Sports Chapter 1: WWE

Netflix just bought the exclusive rights to stream WWE’s Monday Night Raw for $5 billion in a 10-year deal. It’s the ‘Flix’s first live sports deal and the company’s most expensive move ever. Starting January 2025, you can chill with fully-shaved topless men in leos. 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson just rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange to announce the landmark deal and to make his debut as the newest member of TKO’s board of directors. The deal is a win/win…

• Netflix is getting: The Holy Grail of Streaming, live sports. The OG streaming service brought in 13M new subs in Q4 (impressive), but with the WWE, more cord-lovers will move over. Wall Street loved it — the stock popped 10% on the news.   

• WWE is getting: The Biggest billboard on earth, Netflix’s home screen is seen by 260M subscribers. It’s no shocker, Wall Street loved WWE’s stock (ticker: TKO) too — up 16% yesterday. 

The Takeaway →

What’s next for Netflix? We think the NBA. Keeping track: Thursday Night Football, Major League Soccer, and now Pro Wrestling all went to streaming. What’s interesting: the NBA’s media contract expires after next season…fair game for Netflix to slide in as a rebound. 

• Our case for this deal: 

  • 1) The NBA’s audience is more international than the other 4 major sports. 

  • 2) The NBA’s audience is younger than the other 4 major sports.

  • 3) Conveniently, Netflix's audience is young and international too. 

For all the reasons the WWE and Netflix deal makes sense, it’s even more so for Netflix and the NBA. We ship it.

On the pod today…

🫰 TurboTax was just banned by the FTC from using the F-word: “Free”. The near monopoly of tax season is grounded, but it has a huuugggee room. More space for that in today’s podcast episode.

Here’s what else you need to know today —

✅ The New Hampshire primary happened yesterday, with Nikki Haley giving Trump a run for his $, but the former president came out with the victory (54.5% of the Republican vote).

🗣️ Someone created fake audio of Joe Biden and put it in a robocall, telling people in New Hampshire not to vote. This is just the beginning of AI impersonations this election season. 

🪙 Stocks are at record high, but Bitcoin isn’t. Crypto is down 20% since approval of the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF. Nobody knows why. 

🎬 Oscar nominations just came in and Oppenheimer dominated, with 13. No Oscar nom for Margot Robbie’s leading role or for Greta Gerwig as director — but Barbie did get 8. 

🧑‍💻 The Chinese tech mogul, Jack Ma, bought $50M of stock in eCommerce company Alibaba (which he founded). The stock is down 76% since a Chinese crackdown on tech companies. 

Question →

What gives you "the ick"?

Answer →

Nick: Wearing jeans. It’s always given me the chills (I’m a chino guy).
Jack: When someone shares a screen but doesn’t zoom-in on the Word doc.

Do you have The Almost Best Question Yet? Submit yours here.

And one more thing. Are you a crunchy monkey or a groovie smoothie? For bonus points: Oil or no oil?

—Nick & Jack