The Best Newsletter Yet

Happy Saturday Besties,

Mark Zuckerberg turned 40 this week. So how does a billionaire celebrate a bday? Bizarrely…

• Zuck rang in the 4-0 inside mini replicas of places from his life like his college dorm room.

• Jeff Bezos just turned 60 in January. So he bashed in Beverly Hills where guests (including Jay Z) ate McDonald’s & caviar.

And the non-billionaires celebrate aging with McDonald’s Grandma-inspired McFlurry. 

This week’s newsletter is 10% of the best of the pod and 90% things we had to share off the record. 

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🔺 Walmart shares rose 7% on Thursday after upping sales forecasts for the year — Plus, ecommerce jumped 22% in the latest quarter and profit tripled from the year before. And it’s all cause the rich are splurging in aisle 6…

• High-income households are turning to Walmart lately (income = $100K+) because in this economy, ya gotta.

• Plus, the new: Walmart just launched a Millennial focused private-label line, Better Goods. Pistachio Nut Butter, yes please. And this year, it acquired Vizio, the smart-TV company.  

• Add it all up… and Walmart’s total stock market value (its “Market Cap”) passed $500B for the first time. Premium…

And the survey shows…job satisfaction is at an all-time high in America.

• But there’s a twist: While overall job satisfaction is at the highest level in the 37 years that they’ve been keeping track, all 26 job satisfaction components were down (like work-life-balance, bonuses, and health care benefits). So you’re happy with your job overall… but unhappy with all 26 key elements of it. 🫠

• And here’s the surprise: Pay isn’t the key driver of job satisfaction right now, “culture” is. Because with inflation eating up pay raises and remote work creating some loneliness, Team Taco Tuesday is suddenly more meaningful.

The Takeaway: Cash isn’t king, Culture is king. 

So we want to know 👇

Would you rather…

Every tween owns this $110 sweatsuit. So it must be cool.

• Silver Fox? Quite the opposite, White Fox is a “fast-fashion” Australian brand that’s become a middle school uniform. It’s giving: modern Juicy Couture.

• The hype: White Fox recently made it to a list of top 10 trends for teenage girls in a bi-annual trend survey.

• What the kids are saying: “They’re pretty affordable and they have sales a lot, so they’re chill.” And if it’s been a minute since you’ve been in high school… “Right now, the trend at school is being comfy” …“Everyone just wears sweatshirts and sweatpants.” It’s the ‘80s linebacker look.

Last week we asked: Do you have summer Friday?

And these were the best comments yet…

• 💀 “No summer Fridays, but the biggest kicker is that my workplace has weekly 3:30 pm Friday meetings ”

• 🦑 “You know that meme of Squidward looking longingly at SpongeBob and Patrick outside having fun? Yeah... that's me.”

• 😃 “Every other Friday off from Memorial Day to Labor Day! No need for make-up hours as long as all our work gets done.”

The Takeaway: Work from Disney World. iykyk #WFD

Taking Stock with Teens — a bi-annual survey released by Piper Sandler. Here are some highlights.

• Chick-fil-A all day: The favorite restaurant of US teens at 16% share, McDonald’s (10%) moves up to #2 (from #3 in the fall), and Chipotle (9%) moves up to #3 (from #4 in the fall).

• Carnivores: Teens that consume or are willing to try plant-based meat hit an all-time low of 32% in spring '24 vs. 49% in spring ’21.

• Athletic Apparel: Alo Yoga and Vuori climbed to the #11 and #15 spots from #35 and #24 in the fall.

• Social Media: Instagram is the #2 favorite app with 30% of teens and TikTok is #1 at 35%.

The Takeaway (and the reason Piper Sandler takes this survey): Teens are tomorrow. And they’re the best ones to ask for an outfit opinion.

TRIVIA: What’s the most valuable beverage brand on Earth?

You’re thinking Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Budweiser… but it’s actually publicly-traded Moutai ‘Firewater’ — valued at $295B (2x more valuable than Budweiser’s parent company AB-InBev)🔥

• The 53% ABV drink is wildly popular among the rich, elite in China…and tastes like ‘Firewater’ (we sampled it in Beijing in 2018 and can still feel it).

• The cheapest bottle is $350 but vintage ones go for $38K. The reason for the price? Scarcity. It can only be made in one Chinese province, called Moutai Village (a la Champagne) and takes 5 years to make.

👉 Got a fact you want in this newsletter or on the pod? Submit it here. 

“Do things that don’t scale” — VC Paul Graham

• A tweet from @Elmo back in January brought attention to Sesame Street’s successful social media strategy. The core 12 characters from the show each have their own handles where they interact with fans in the comment section — in character (KEY).

• Back in 2013, Y Combinator’s Co-Founder wrote an essay we love: “Delighting customers scales better than expected” — We call it the '‘Return on Love.’ Because when you get a reply from Elmo, it’s like a digital autograph (and you share it).

• The Key? Reply to comments: Sesame Street’s social media success is a reminder — Just cause it doesn’t scale, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.

👀 Here’s the rest of Sesame Street’s 3-part social media strategy (S/O to Jack Appleby on this one.)

• Pop Culture: The movie, IF released in theaters yesterday (John Krasinski ✅, Steve Carrell ✅, and Ryan Reynolds ✅ )

• Sports: NBA & NHL playoffs kick off the Conference Finals (the NBA bracket, the NHL bracket)

• Holidays: Canada’s Victoria Day — the unofficial start of summer (Monday)

And subscribe to our YouTube if you’re a real one:

👂 Monday: The best financial stat…is for Warby glasses

👂 Tuesday: The best news for GameStop…is that Roaring Kitty tweeted

👂 Wednesday: The best thong models for Kim K…are not models

👂 Thursday: The best social media strategy….is @Elmo’s

👂 Friday: The best morale in the workforce ever…is today

👀 Monday: We found the secret sauce to the fastest-growing fast food chain in America: Raising Cane’s has a secret app. 🐔

And one more thing. When we do a big business deal, we have a special way to celebrate it (even though we live across the country from each other. If ya want to hear how we celebrate the wins, reply WINS.

🥂🥂

—Nick & Jack