Hasbro's Best Customer Isn't A Kid Anymore

[00:00:00]First, adult Play-Doh sold out in a day and it's helping Hasbro beat Mattel three to one. Then, a Chinese AI named after a Pink Floyd album just passed OpenAI and the White House wants it banned. And volleyball has quietly become the number two women's sport in America. Now, it just needs its Zendaya movie, a Mighty Ducks moment.

[00:00:19]>> This is Nick.

[00:00:19]>> This is Jack.

[00:00:20]>> It's Wednesday, so it's V J Wednesday, July 22nd. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy.

[00:00:27]>> three pop business news stories you need to know today.

[00:00:30]>> Uh T-Boy offsite day number two. Where did we go, Jack?

[00:00:33]>> Family sunset picnic on the beach.

[00:00:35]>> way out on the beach, by the way.

[00:00:37]>> We actually had to drive our vehicles way out onto the beach. It was off-roading that I didn't know Nick was capable of.

[00:00:44]>> well, I'm not, Jack. We didn't let [laughter] the air out of the tires.

[00:00:46]That's not like a skill in my toolbox.

[00:00:47]>> We had to go down to 15 SPF. I thought there was a [laughter] 60% chance that I say SPF.

[00:00:52]>> I think you meant PSI, and even I caught that one, man.

[00:00:55]>> I thought there was a good chance we were getting stuck.

[00:00:57]>> Okay, tonight's the Odyssey. More on that tomorrow. Jack, let's hit our three stories.

[00:01:03]>> For our first story, Hasbro stock surged 10% Tuesday after the most playful earnings ever.

[00:01:10]>> Because Hasbro is doubling its customer base from kids to kids and adults by using Wizards and Play-Doh.

[00:01:17]>> Adults only Play-Doh.

[00:01:20]But besties, if we're going to tell the story, let's whip out the whiteboard and talk about the greatest product pivots of all time.

[00:01:24]>> Nintendo started as a taxi and hotel company.

[00:01:27]>> Ketchup started as a tummy medication.

[00:01:30]>> And back in the 1930s in Cincinnati, Kutol invented a new cleaning product.

[00:01:35]>> Cleaning buddy to take soot and fingerprints off your living room wallpaper.

[00:01:38]>> Well, Nick, the handwriting was on the wall.

[00:01:40]>> Yeah.

[00:01:40]>> Because that product became Play-Doh.

[00:01:42]>> Much more fun to roll into a ball and then smash into a pancake than to clean with, Jack.

[00:01:47]>> And as home heating switched away from dirty coal, wallpaper wasn't getting dirty.

[00:01:51]>> So, in 1956, the founder's sister-in-law pivoted, suggested marketing it as a kids play toy. She even came up with the name Play-Doh. Oh, by the way, that distinctive [snorts] Play-Doh smell? The new owner, Hasbro, trademarked that scent in 2018. It's an almond-based fragrance to signal that it's safe.

[00:02:08]>> Actually, the trademark says it's a unique scent formed through the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance with slight overtones of cherry and the natural smell of a salted wheat paste.

[00:02:17]>> Yeah, as you can see, besties, the lawyers >> [laughter] >> not exactly marketers on this one.

[00:02:22]>> kids, either. But here's the news, Hasbro has officially beaten its rival, Mattel. Game over.

[00:02:27]>> In the playroom and on Wall Street.

[00:02:29]Because Mattel's stock is down 28% this year to a $4 billion valuation.

[00:02:33]>> While Hasbro is up 10% and now we're three times what Mattel is.

[00:02:37]>> Because Hasbro just announced peachy earnings and boosted their profit forecast that the CEO is having trouble sharing with the other CEOs.

[00:02:44]>> Because the fastest-growing business is Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering, or their Wizards division.

[00:02:50]And the customer of that division is mostly adults.

[00:02:52]>> But besties, here's what Jack and I find fascinating about Hasbro's numbers.

[00:02:56]>> Hasbro just relaunched Play-Doh as a grown-up brand.

[00:03:00]>> Behold, Blooms by Play-Doh, a $25 kit to craft Play-Doh flowers.

[00:03:06]>> Why spend 50 bucks on fresh zinnias that are going to die in 4 days?

[00:03:09]>> Fake flowers, yeah, maybe they feel a bit tacky, but real flower art made by you?

[00:03:14]>> Put that on the mantel, Jack.

[00:03:16]>> So, Blooms by Play-Doh, it turns millennial Millie into an artist who can show off her artwork.

[00:03:23]>> this, it launched last week on TikTok shop, sold out in 24 hours.

[00:03:27]>> And Hasbro CEO humble-bragged about that win in the earnings yesterday.

[00:03:30]>> Yeah, he said Play-Doh Bloom is their next profit puppy.

[00:03:33]>> But get this, Hasbro launched the same concept 6 years ago and it failed.

[00:03:37]>> Yeah, Jack, back then it was Play-Doh flowers.

[00:03:39]>> But this time, they're relaunching without the Play-Doh branding.

[00:03:43]>> That's right, this time it's called Blooms with Play-Doh in the fine print.

[00:03:47]>> If it's like traditional Play-Doh, it will fail. That's what the CEO said yesterday.

[00:03:51]>> So, Hasbro sold out in one day because this kidult bet is not a nostalgic play.

[00:03:56]>> They sold out because Blooms by Play-Doh, it taps into something deeper than my 3-year-old son's Moo Moo Cow. He won't go to bed with >> By the way guys, would it kill you to make a Play-Doh cologne? What do you think, Jack?

[00:04:05]>> I mean, that product is probably out there.

[00:04:07]>> Eau de dough. Eau de dough.

[00:04:08]>> Eau de dough.

[00:04:09]>> So [laughter] Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies at Adults Only Play-Doh?

[00:04:14]>> It's not Revenge of the Nerds. It's Revenge of Reality.

[00:04:18]>> Yeti's, Hasbro is a 102-year-old company battling the most addictive substance on the planet, screen.

[00:04:24]>> And algorithms. Toy Story 5 is literally the plot of Hasbro.

[00:04:27]>> Yeah, well put, Jack. But as screen addiction rises, screen addiction antidotes are now at all-time highs.

[00:04:33]>> It's creating a whole new market. In fact, Eventbrite saw a 50% jump in events that said, "No phones allowed at this event."

[00:04:40]>> Phone-free experiences.

[00:04:41]>> Now ironically, Hasbro has sold this adult Play-Doh on TikTok, >> the ultimate addictive screen.

[00:04:46]>> And they've hired Instagram influencers to pitch you on that new >> Play-Doh for adults >> in the For You page.

[00:04:55]>> A screen. But Play-Doh's adult flowers, they're an old product seizing a new opportunity by using different marketing.

[00:04:59]>> And like run clubs and dark vacations, adult Play-Doh is the newest chapter of the detox economy.

[00:05:04]>> Besties, it's not Revenge of the Nerds.

[00:05:06]We're about to experience the Revenge of Reality.

[00:05:11]For our second story, the newest AI leader is such a moonshot, it's called Moonshot.

[00:05:18]>> And it's caused the White House to threaten to ban Chinese AI.

[00:05:23]>> Yeti's, in our weekly F1 racing style, who's actually in the lead for AI right now? Jack, who is actually in the lead for AI right now?

[00:05:32]>> Well, last week we told you that Deep Seek, the Chinese AI lab, was prepping to IPO.

[00:05:36]>> Deep Seek, it's a dupe AI.

[00:05:38]>> It's cheaper, but nearly as nice as America's Anthropic and Open AI.

[00:05:42]>> And that Deep Seek AI dupe, it just passed America's finest in market share.

[00:05:46]>> Because DoorDash, Coinbase, Airbnb, and a whole bunch of startups, they're all using Chinese AI that cost 1/10 the price of American AI.

[00:05:53]>> Well, update Yeti's for this week, another Chinese AI just surged ahead of OpenAI and Claude, but in intelligence.

[00:06:01]>> If Deep Seek was the Honda of AI, a low-priced, well-made AI model, >> well, then this new Moonshot Kimi model of AI is China's Ferrari killer.

[00:06:10]>> Because it performs as well as OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the benchmarks.

[00:06:14]>> But Jack, what's the reason this Chinese AI company is named Moonshot in the first place?

[00:06:19]>> loves Pink Floyd, apparently.

[00:06:21]>> So, Moonshot AI launched on the 50th anniversary of the founder's favorite classic rock album, >> The Dark Side of the Moon.

[00:06:27]>> But here's the news, besties. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Treasury would investigate Chinese AI companies like this for theft. He said it yesterday. And if Chinese AI labs are stealing America's models like they've been alleged to be doing, they'll be sanctioned.

[00:06:42]>> Even if they're inspired by the greatest classic rock band of all time.

[00:06:47]>> The besties, China stealing US technology and then undercutting American companies on price? That's uh that's like the oldest story in the finance book, Jack.

[00:06:54]>> But this time, the book is AI, not fashion or furniture.

[00:06:59]>> of complicating factors with all this Chinese stealing.

[00:07:03]>> Well, a ban on US companies from using Chinese AI, which the White House is considering, that would worsen inflation and hurt competitiveness.

[00:07:11]>> Will the US government force our companies to pay for pricier AI in this economy?

[00:07:16]>> Those higher AI bills are going to trickle down to the prices that we pay, inflating inflation more. Oh, and by the way, banning Chinese AI would only apply to American companies.

[00:07:25]>> So, foreign rivals using cheaper Chinese AI would have a cost advantage over American companies.

[00:07:30]>> Jack, what about a third complicating factor here? What about that?

[00:07:33]>> It's the fact that these models in China, they're open weight, not closed models like we have here in the US.

[00:07:39]>> the way, besties, open weight AI models, that means they can be downloaded, and therefore they are more difficult to regulate.

[00:07:45]>> Because once somebody downloads the model, the government can't force you to undownload it.

[00:07:49]>> The genie is out of the bottle, you can't put her back in.

[00:07:52]>> And Open AI calls this Chinese way of doing AI AI communism.

[00:07:55]>> Yeah, as you can tell, things are getting heated in Silicon Valley.

[00:07:59]>> So, the White House is thinking about banning Chinese AI, but the White House hates regulation generally speaking.

[00:08:04]>> However, Jack, this White House does love a trade war.

[00:08:07]>> Which leads to our takeaway.

[00:08:08]>> So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Chinese AI?

[00:08:14]>> The trade war has re-erupted, but with a digital battlefront.

[00:08:18]>> Yeddy's, last week the United States added a 25% tariff against Brazil, and this week we added 50% tariffs against Canada.

[00:08:25]>> No joke, as of this week we're tariffing hockey sticks from Toronto with a new 50% tax.

[00:08:30]>> US versus Brazil, US versus Canada, US versus China. We thought the World Cup was over. What's going on?

[00:08:35]>> Well, when the US Supreme Court struck down tariffs in February, Trump added new ones almost immediately.

[00:08:39]>> Using different laws that had never been used before.

[00:08:42]>> But with AI, tariffs aren't working. So, now we're considering banning Chinese AI.

[00:08:48]>> And the US trade rep said on Tuesday that tariffs on a dozen more countries would be coming soon.

[00:08:52]>> Yeddy's, with the war in Iran dominating headlines and tariffs getting struck down by the Supreme Court, the trade war, yeah, it felt over.

[00:08:59]>> But now it's erupting again, and the new battlefront is digital.

[00:09:03]>> Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

[00:09:09]For our third and final story, the number two women's sport in America has quietly become volleyball.

[00:09:16]>> But you wouldn't notice because Hollywood hasn't propagandized us yet.

[00:09:22]>> But first, Yeddy's, we're going to start with the hero stat here. This is good, Jack.

[00:09:25]>> Wild stat from 50 miles from where I grew up.

[00:09:28]>> Uh T-boy trivia.

[00:09:28]>> Basketball and volleyball were invented 9 miles >> Massachusetts, 9 miles.

[00:09:36]>> Two sports.

[00:09:37]>> 91, baby.

[00:09:38]>> Both also invented by fizz ed teachers.

[00:09:42]>> Give these guys an A for effort. They also look almost identical.

[00:09:45]>> But here's what we find fascinating.

[00:09:47]Basketball is a global billion-dollar sport. While volleyball in America, at least >> It's just that one funny scene from Meet the Parents in the pool. What the heck is wrong with you, Focker?

[00:09:56]>> But Bessie's, if you think volleyball is niche, then that is false and you need to call a timeout. Volleyball is the number two women's sport in the country right now.

[00:10:04]>> Uh Jack, can you set us up with some numbers, please?

[00:10:07]>> 493,000 high school girls are playing registered volleyball.

[00:10:11]>> That's second only to track and field right now.

[00:10:13]>> 493,000 high school girls is up 14% from 10 years ago, and it's nearly 10 times bigger than the number of male volleyball.

[00:10:21]>> Which happens to be the reason number one why volleyball's gotten so popular.

[00:10:25]>> It's one of the only sports where female athletes get more attention than the males. The other reason, interestingly >> it's a non-contact sport.

[00:10:31]>> The only person you're bumping into on the volleyball court is your teammate, and only by >> accident.

[00:10:35]>> Although you are making contact with that ball intensely.

[00:10:38]>> [laughter] >> In fact, that YMCA gym teacher from Massachusetts who invented the game in 1895, he designed it to be non-contact.

[00:10:46]>> As he described it, it would be an indoor sport for those who wish a game not so rough as basketball.

[00:10:51]>> But require equal the amount of athleticism.

[00:10:53]>> It's an exact quote from the creator. So volleyball, it's now the number two women's sport in America. So society is starting to bump, set, and notice that this is happening.

[00:11:03]>> exhausted your volleyball vocabulary?

[00:11:05]>> I haven't used spike yet, but I'm saving that for a special [laughter] point in the show, Jack.

[00:11:08]>> In 2023, Nebraska's women's volleyball team sold out the football stadium with 92,000 attendees.

[00:11:14]>> In 2025, ESPN's college volleyball coverage grew viewership by 36%.

[00:11:19]>> And earlier this year, the national championship game got 1.4 million viewers.

[00:11:23]>> Oh look, Rangers fan here, and I'm I'll say it, that is more than twice as much as your average NHL regular season game.

[00:11:29]But >> the industry of pro sports >> has not noticed.

[00:11:32]>> Yeah, even though your average volleyball player is like 6' 12, Jack.

[00:11:35]>> And the reason volleyball is being overlooked by pop culture and industry, it's best put in cultural terms, not financial ones.

[00:11:41]>> Right. As the CEO of USA Volleyball says, "We haven't had our Zendaya moment."

[00:11:46]>> He's referencing the 2024 tennis film Challengers, which was starred by Zendaya, which caused a boost in interest in tennis at the time.

[00:11:54]>> Just like how The Mighty Ducks sparked hockey participation in the US 32 years ago. Jack, I laced up my first skates after >> watching the Ducks fly together.

[00:12:01]>> And Drive to Survive ignited fandom of Formula 1 in the US 7 years ago.

[00:12:05]>> You know Red Bull is a racing team now because you binged F1 documentaries on Netflix.

[00:12:10]>> But it's not just sports that depend on Hollywood to help popularize them.

[00:12:14]>> So Jack, can you please spike the takeaway for us for our buddies playing volleyball?

[00:12:20]>> public awareness campaigns, they're scripted, not broadcast.

[00:12:25]>> Yeah, besties, there's a wild story here that we think relates to the future of volleyball having its cultural breakout moment.

[00:12:31]>> Let's go back to the 1980s when drunk driving in America was at an all-time high.

[00:12:35]>> So Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed a solution, a new solution, the designated driver.

[00:12:40]>> You see, a Harvard study came up with the idea of the designated driver, and they could have launched a bunch of PSA ad campaigns to try to tell you about it.

[00:12:47]>> Here's what a designated driver is. You should always have one when you go out at, you know, the bar.

[00:12:52]>> But instead, they went to Hollywood, and they struck a deal with the movie studios.

[00:12:56]>> To start including the term designated driver in movies >> so that viewers can suddenly see it in action.

[00:13:02]>> Instead of lecturing this new idea, embed it within the plots that people will understand and absorb.

[00:13:07]>> And that strategy of introducing the new term designated driver in movies, it worked. Drunk driving rates plummeted in the '90s.

[00:13:14]>> And the way that volleyball wants its breakthrough Hollywood moment, it reminds us of that.

[00:13:17]>> You see, besties, sometimes new concepts need help from culture to really break through. And it's best to script that breakthrough, not broadcast it.

[00:13:27]>> Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for ceviche Wednesday?

[00:13:30]>> Hasbro stock is close to all-time highs thanks to adult, so they're launching Blooms by Play-Doh DIY bouquet. It's not Revenge of the Nerds, this is revenge of reality.

[00:13:40]>> For our second story, the US is considering banning Chinese AI like Moonshot if it was stolen from US AI labs.

[00:13:46]>> And the trade war has re-erupted, but now with a digital battlefront.

[00:13:49]>> And our third and final story was volleyball. It's quietly taken over high school women's sports.

[00:13:54]>> Number two, only to track and field.

[00:13:56]>> But it needs its Mighty Ducks moment, just like the designated driver term from the 1980s.

[00:14:02]>> But besties, this pod's not over yet.

[00:14:04]Here's what else you need to know today.

[00:14:06]>> First, remember that Jurassic Park startup that was bringing back extinct animals like the dodo? We covered it on the pod.

[00:14:11]>> That is Colossal Biosciences, and they're raising new venture capital money at a $30 billion valuation.

[00:14:17]>> announced the next animal they'll bring back from extinction. It's >> the blue buck antelope.

[00:14:22]>> Guys, skip all these animals and go straight to T-Rex.

[00:14:25]>> [laughter] >> I don't care about a blue buck antelope.

[00:14:27]>> way, they're already generating revenue, this company. They've got a new government contract to save the Tasmanian devil species from a contagious disease.

[00:14:33]>> Second, it's the stock market corner.

[00:14:35]Tesla and Google announce earnings later today.

[00:14:38]>> AMC, they already announced earnings.

[00:14:40]Record second quarter for the box office, that's before the Odyssey hit theaters, by the way.

[00:14:45]>> But Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he says he would not buy stocks right now. There's too many risks being underestimated by the market.

[00:14:53]>> the newest strategy among countries to boost their birth rate, flirting baskets in the grocery store.

[00:14:58]>> A grocery store chain in Finland is stocking pink carts and pink baskets that you can grab if you want to let the shoppers know that you're single.

[00:15:06]>> I mean, Jack, I guess it's like a physical equivalent of the Facebook status update, "I'm single."

[00:15:10]>> And if you bump into a cutie in aisle six who also has a pink basket, it'd be really awkward if they don't strike up a conversation with >> We both enjoy paying $19 for organic almond butter. We should probably merge our finances and move in together.

[00:15:23]Now, time for the best fact. Yeah, this one whipped up by Jack and I because we came across it in some interesting research we were doing on yesterday's show.

[00:15:31]>> We did destroy in the oldest shirt company in the world.

[00:15:33]>> Charvet.

[00:15:34]>> Yeah, they go back to 1838. They just got acquired by Chanel.

[00:15:36]>> Guess what? Charvet goes back to before the tuxedo was invented.

[00:15:40]>> So, we dove in T-boy style. The tuxedo formal wear for men is less than 188 years old.

[00:15:45]>> Guess where the tuxedo was invented?

[00:15:47]Upstate New York.

[00:15:49]>> That's right. Mid-1800s, the tuxedo jacket was first designed for the Prince of Wales in England.

[00:15:54]>> One American family was visiting England, liked that style, and brought it back to their small town 1 hour north of New York City.

[00:16:00]>> And that family started wearing these formal English jackets to parties at their local club in that town.

[00:16:05]>> name of that town?

[00:16:07]Tuxedo Park, New York.

[00:16:09]>> Hence, the tuxedo jacket.

[00:16:12]Yannis, you look fantastic. Jack, you are glowing over there. Are you ready for midnight movie club tonight?

[00:16:17]>> This is going to be awesome. [laughter] >> We're seeing the Odyssey right after this recording. You ready to go?

[00:16:21]>> Pretty sure it'll go into midnight cuz it's an 8:30 viewing.

[00:16:24]>> It's as long as the actual Odyssey from what I understand. We may not make it home, is from what I understand. Is Tom Holland really going to have a possible >> It was bizarre that he chose to drink a Dunkin' on the boat with the Trojan horse. I didn't I didn't get that choice. Interesting design decision. I assume you've got my half birthday gift you'll give me at the theater, Jack.

[00:16:40]>> HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY.

[00:16:42]>> ABOUT? DUDE, I MADE A NOTE yesterday to tell you and I forgot.

[00:16:45]>> Wow. And now, here's your verbal note, Jack. Yannis, you look fantastic. To give us five stars helps us grow the show, and Jack and I will see you if we make it back from the movie tomorrow.

[00:16:56]>> [music] >> This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Lyft. Nick owns stock of Airbnb, and we both own stock of Spotify.