This is Jack. This is Nick. And don’t call it a pigskin. The NFL season kicked off yesterday, but we would rather talk about the ball than Travis Kelce’s knee. Each official NFL ball is made of leather (specifically steerhide), shaped in a “prolate spheroid” (geometry), and made by 1 company (Wilson) in 1 state (Ohio). It’s an art and a science.

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Subscribe here to get TBOY 3x/week every week.

1) Apple Stock Loses $210B as China Bans Government iPhones

Top of Apple’s favorite contacts? America…aka Apple’s biggest market. But the clear No. 2 on Apple’s list is China: A whopping 95% of Apple’s physical products are made in China. So these 2 headlines scared Apple shareholders yesterday:

• China banned iPhones for government employees and state-owned companies (no FaceTiming, Prez Xi).

• China-based tech firm Huawei just announced an iPhone-caliber phone made without American chips.

Those 2 bombshells were dropped in the same week. Coincidence? Wall Street doesn’t think so. Apple lost over $210B (the equivalent of about 50 Lyfts) in market value on worries that China’s iPhone ban could expand to include everyone, not just government employees. And China represents 20% of Apple’s sales.

The Takeaway →

Apple’s Plan B may become Plan A. With US-China relations souring, Apple knows its reliance on Chinese factories is a risk. But it has a Plan B: It’s shifting 25% of iAnything production to India by 2025. With this week’s double whammy of anti-Apple news out of China, Apple might be quicker to go with Plan B than it was this time last week.

2) Ikea’s Maze: the Most Profitable Floor Plan on Earth

For the past 2 years, Ikea has been testing out a new store format: traditional retail instead of its famous maze-like layout. Ikea let shoppers roam open-concept stores, going up and down aisle whatever-they-please. But shoppers hated it, so Ikea’s CEO just announced it’s going back to its routes (see what we did there?).

Ikea’s massive retail stores are built as mazes (fun fact: Ikea’s characteristic layout was inspired by NYC’s Guggenheim Museum). That means 1 entrance, 1 exit, and multiple laps through a long retail labyrinth to grab that desk lamp. These architectural marvels turn stores into 3D ads that force shoppers to “walk” through the Ikea catalog—and that drives impulse buys:

• 6 out of 10 items purchased at Ikea stores (yes, 60% of sales) are impulse buys.

• People buy more Flurgen-couches when they see more Flurgen-couches.

The Takeaway →

Ikea stores solve the paradox of choice. Walk into any traditional retail store and you face unlimited options. That overwhelming feeling you get? It’s decision paralysis. Economists call it the “Paradox of Choice.” But Ikea’s corn maze of a retail design chooses what products you see for you—and that’s actually more liberating than limiting.

3) Diamond Prices Are Plummeting Thanks to Lab-Grown Competition

The 4 Cs are getting cheaper. The wholesale price of diamonds used in the most popular engagement rings has fallen by 40% in the last year. But don’t get down on one knee ASAP. 💍 It’ll take some time for that price drop to trickle down to your jewelry store.

The reason behind the free fall? Lab-grown diamonds. For years now, we’ve had synthetically created diamonds—but consumers are finally buying them in big numbers. A shocking 30% of diamonds purchased this year have been lab-grown, according to Bloomberg. The rundown on lab-grown:

• 🌍 Mother nature nurtures stones into diamonds over the course of billions of years with heat and pressure.

• 🥼 Scientists can do that in a lab in just a couple weeks.

The Takeaway →

Disruption doesn’t have to be loud—it can be quiet. Remember when Uber and Facebook disrupted with move-fast-and-break-things style? Lab-grown diamonds show that’s not the only way to disrupt. The lab-grown industry has subtly focused on itself, marketing the ethical and sustainable advantage over mined diamonds. Now that quiet disruption is hitting De Beers’ diamond monopoly.

🫒 Thieves in Spain just stole $500K worth of olive oil—turns out high prices of the liquid fat attract criminal attention (and, yes, it was Extra Virgin).

🇲🇽 Mexico is set to elect its first female president as the two top political parties both nominate women.

🔌 Tesla just partnered with Hilton to add 20K chargers to their hotels by 2025.

🎵 Duolingo is expanding from language learning to math and music, too (matemáticas y música).

😎 Goldman Sachs cut the risk of a US recession down to 15%. We’ll take it.

✈️ Tom Brady has a new job…with Delta Airlines. He’s their new “Strategic Advisor” (now that he’s done losing money on crypto).

And one more thing. We’re DIY-ing a Honey Deuce this weekend: 1 part vodka, 1 part lemonade, 1 part raspberry liquor. What else should we toss in?

—Nick & Jack