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Business of Home Podcast
The Thursday Show: A New Year's tariff reversal. Plus: Bankruptcy for Food52 and Schoolhouse
00:33:23
Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world
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- [00:08]
A
This is Business of Home. I'm Dennis Scully and welcome to the Thursday show. Today we'll be catching up on the biggest news in the design industry, including a pullback on furniture tariffs, bankruptcy for Food52 and Schoolhouse, and a creative new use for AI in real estate. To do all that, I'm joined by Business of Homes executive editor Fred Nicolas. Hi, Fred.
- [00:31]
B
Hi. How's it going? Great.
- [00:33]
A
How you doing?
- [00:34]
B
Doing good. Back in action for 2026. This is always a little bit of a rough re entry week, but I think I remember how to do my job. How about you?
- [00:44]
A
I am feeling free of the flu at last, Fred, so I'm very excited to be kicking off our first show of the new year, hopefully without a coughing fit in sight.
- [00:55]
B
How was California?
- [00:56]
A
Real quick before we get going, California was fantastic. Why we don't all live in that great state, Fred? I don't know. Because it is surely a beaut place.
- [01:04]
B
Because every house costs $10 million, is the very simple answer to that question.
- [01:09]
A
Sadly, I know the answer. But yes, California native the lovely Mrs. Scully was pretty darn excited to be there and always hard to get her back to New York after a trip in California. But it was great. And San Francisco is a magical place, as is a small town of Jenner where we spent some time.
- [01:28]
B
Beautiful. Love it. Well, California came to me. My family from the Bay Area came here and they're Thursday show fans. I think they were a little disappoint we didn't record while they were here. They were hoping to make a little cameo on the show, but it didn't happen. Let's quickly look back on Monday's episode, a conversation with Stacy wagoner of Studio 4, someone who has spent their entire career in textiles and brought all of that wisdom to bear for us on the show. What'd you make of the conversation?
- [01:53]
A
It was great to talk to Stacy, as you say, a much beloved veteran of the industry. I've spoken with so many people who talked about Stacy and Studio 4 in the context of helping them to start their business or just being great counsel along the way. And it's, it was really great to hear her perspective on how the industry has evolved and including some of her own opinions about digital printing. And her early skepticism has now, has now turned to a great deal of respect. It sounds like so.
- [02:29]
B
And a great deal of business too. I think she was a, you know, she was an early hater and now like a huge percentage of her stock is. Is digitally printed, which is interesting. I also love the kind of observ about how, you know, tariffs have made the price of high end fabrics go up. But guess what? People are still buying them. I mean, it's really, it's kind of the story of 2025 is that even though prices did go up, the high end was still, still rocking. And Stacy was, is living proof of that.
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A
Very much so. And as we've often talked about on the show as well, the rug business, and that side of her business has, has grown to, to be about half of what she sells now, remarkably so. That's, that's also an interesting statement about the times that we're living in, despite those on India.
- [03:13]
B
And we're going to talk about those more in a second. Indeed.
- [03:16]
A
We wouldn't have a show without talking about tariffs, Fred. In fact, why don't we take a quick break and then we'll get into the news. This podcast is sponsored by laloy. Behind every Laloy rug is a web of people woven together. What began as a small family business in Dallas, Texas in 2004 has grown to a family of over 750 employees who help bring their rugs, pillows and wall art to life. Their work is inspired by the quiet conviction that things made well have the power to provide comfort for generations. Learn more@laloirugs.com that's L O L O I rugs.com and follow laloyrugs on Instagram and TikTok. And we're back. New Year, Fred. But that's right, we're gonna talk about tariffs right out of the gate.
- [04:19]
B
Happy new year. On January 1, duties on upholstered furniture, cabinets and bathroom venues were all scheduled to go up. Instead, the White House announced last week that the rate hike would be paused for a full year. So this is a tariff story, Dennis, but this is the tariffs are going in the opposite direction they normally are when we talk about these things.
- [04:38]
A
Look at us delivering a positive tariff story right as the new year starts. I think it's great. I don't know if the industry, industry feels it's as positive as they would like, but let's remind people what all of this was about and what we might have been facing that it sounds like we're not going to for a while.
- [04:57]
B
Sure. Yeah. So this fall, I think they were announced on September 29, there was this kind of surprise announcement from President Trump that there was going to be tariffs specifically on upholstery, cabinetry and vanities. And the numbers were going to be 25% right off the bat. But then they were going to go up on January 1, 20, 26 to 30% in the case of upholstered furniture, and a whopping 50% unimported kitchen cabinetry and vanities on January 1. So these were kind of, you know, big tariffs in the fall, but they were scheduled to be even bigger when the new year turned over. And it looks like the administration has had a change of heart. And now we're sticking with, you know, just 25%, which is still pretty darn high, but certainly less than 30 and 50. So this is kind of the rare tariff pull back from the Trump administration. What do you make of it?
- [05:46]
A
So is this the outcome of last November's elections? Is this the affordability buzzword that everyone was talking about at the end of the year? Is this the administration softening their stance on all of this? Fred?
- [06:00]
B
I don't know. Well, Stephen Miller is not returning my calls. Dennis, it's honestly, this story is actually sort of underreported. I mean, I think the political media has other fish to fry and they're not as focused on the kitchen cabinetry tariffs. But in the official announcement, there was sort of language about how negotiations are ongoing and they're positive. And we're going to give this some time to really play out, which I'm sure is true. I mean, I'm sure they are negotiating with various countries and trying to get favorable conditions. So I wouldn't doubt that. But I also think there's no denying the broader political climate right now. We're coming into an election year. Affordability is the buzzword that everyone's talking about. I know that the president is a huge fan of tariffs, but I think most people acknowledge that tariffs do not make things more affordable. So I think maybe there's a kind of a sense of let's not add on to that at this particular political moment, especially because as we all know, the Supreme Court is set to rule in potentially days on the other tariffs, the sweeping global tariffs. So we're kind of in a weird little tariff twilight zone at the moment. I think the administration didn't wanna make any big moves. Is that your read as well?
- [07:06]
A
Well, very much so. And I think the administration sees that all of the betting sites and the prediction markets are suggesting that the Supreme Court looks likely to roll back some of the tariffs. And I don't know how that will alter the tariff landscape and how the administration will respond to that. But I think many in the market are believing that that is almost a fait accompli, that somehow these are going to be rolled back and we'll have to see what the administration's response is. So we're certainly not done talking about tariffs by any means, and we might get some really big news that might impact the industry a great deal in just a few days.
- [07:48]
B
Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, I think talking about sort of like how the industry should react to this news, you know, I mean, like, keep in mind, these are, you know, for. Let's talk about the upholstery side first. You know, this is 25% that is currently in place. It was scheduled to go up to 30 and it didn't. Now, that's obviously good news for people who import upholstery, but I don't necessarily think that's going to be a game changer. I think 25% is a big number. You know, it not going up an additional 5% I don't think is going to make anyone's year. I'm sure there are some people who are happy about this. I'm sure there are fans of protectionist trade policy that are a little bit sad about this, but I don't think this is like groundbreaking news, necessarily. On the kitchen cabinetry side, this is significant because they were going to double. They're going up to 50%. And there it's really kind of a different story because while you have all the people who import cabinetry and vanities are no doubt cheering this news wildly and are very happy about it, especially people who bring it in from Canada. That's a big market for US designers, the whole apparatus of American kitchen cabinetry manufacturers. It's a big trade group, they lobbied very hard. I spoke to somebody about it at the time who said that 50% wasn't even enough. It really should be 100%. So I have to imagine that they're a little disappointed that this number isn't going up to 50. So I'm sure you'll see a somewhat mixed reaction as this news trickles out.
- [09:02]
A
Yeah, I mean, it looked as though the association of Home Builders and some other trade organizations were celebrating this news, but as I say, we're not out of the woods on all of this. So, I mean, I think this announcement was a bit of a relief for many, but it's too early to celebrate. The outcome is still very unclear.
- [09:24]
B
Yeah. And too early to bemoan for the people who didn't want this to happen. I should be clear that I think unlike the upholstery tariffs, which didn't seem to have a huge constituency, there were a lot of People who are rooting, the domestic manufacturers are rooting really hard for the kitchen cabinetry tariffs and they haven't put out an announcement yet. I did reach out to them and say, hey, how do you guys feel about this? But no word yet, so we'll see.
- [09:47]
A
In the meantime, we're going to move on and talk about Food52. The owner of Schoolhouse and Dansk filed for bankruptcy and put themselves up for auction last week. Now it looks like America's test kitchen is the likely buyer.
- [09:59]
B
Yeah, this is very sad news. I guess just to sort of set the table a little bit, I think most people probably know Food52. It was this recipe site that blossomed into something much more. It became this, you know, hub of this content meets commerce concept. The idea if you write about something, you can sell stuff to people. And it was, you know, a really big company. At one point they brought in, I don't know, was it 160 million in investment and they were valued at $300 million. And they of course bought Schoolhouse, the Portland home brand. They bought Dansk, the Tabletop company. And they were kind of on this rocket trajectory of growth. And ever since the COVID home boom ended, it's been one bad story after another. There was all these leaders changes and layoffs and scandals, and one employee ran away with tens of thousands of dollars. And now here we are with this kind of sad news that they're filing for bankruptcy and looking to sell themselves off for a remarkably small amount of money. This was a really sad story that happened over the holidays, I should say. Also, they laid off 75%, maybe more of their staff. So a lot of people lost their jobs right around the holidays, which is very sad. What did you make of all this?
- [11:12]
A
It's just a sad story from start to finish. I was such a huge fan and admirer of the founders, Amanda Hesser and Meryl Stubbs, both of whom came on the show shortly after they had received that $83 million from the Chernin.
- [11:29]
B
The Business of Home podcast bump wasn't enough to save them.
- [11:32]
A
No, but it was such an exciting time. As you say, the company at the time was being valued at over $100 million. And the Chernin Group would put in tens of millions of dollars more in investment. And at one point the valuation was over 300 million dol million. It's a remarkable story of just how overly enthusiastic people can get when there seems to be a great concept, which this clearly was, when there seems to be a great community and there's product Sales and people were coming to the site for all sorts of different reasons. It just had all of these great elements to it. Then along came Covid, and everyone was baking banana bread. And people somehow thought that would last forever. I mean, it was. It was really just a classic tale of everything from what can happen when private equity comes along? What happens when everyone gets overly enthusiastic about things and then when things just slow down dramatically?
- [12:34]
B
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to this story and there's plenty of blame to go around for why this happened. I think one of the kind of tragic parts about it is that they. Of course, it wasn't just Food52. They also bought Schoolhouse. We've had Sarah Fritsch, the former CEO of that company, on the show a couple times. A great, very beloved, cool brand that manufactured a lot in Oregon. And they were acquired by Food52 and they've had the majority of their staff laid off. They were a very steady, cool brand. That is now. I don't know what the future is for them now, as you said. I don't know. I try to be agnostic around private equity because I know it has certainly helped some very cool companies grow quickly. But this is a clear example of how you pump tons of money into something. These crazy high expectations. You just start acquiring companies. At the end of the day, so many people have lost their jobs. And as I mentioned, the bankruptcy fire sale is for $6.5 million. I don't know if that'll actually go through, but this is a company that Food52 alone did over 26 million in revenue. And last year, Schoolhouse brought in 44 and a half and Change last year. So this is not some tiny entity. And it's just really too bad that it's getting sold off. I don't know. What do you think happens next if, let's say, America's Test Kitchen, they're the stocking horse bidder, they're funding the company while it goes through bankruptcy. They'll likely acquire it. What do you think happens next for this little trio of brands?
- [13:58]
A
Well. And does it remain a trio of brands to your point? I mean, it makes a lot more Sense to acquire Food52 for America's test Kitchen. And that's an incredible operation. They're housed in the same building as the design center in Boston. Exactly. And I remember getting a tour of that whole operation when I visited the design center. It's an incredibly impressive operation that they run. And you can, you can see them finding endless synergies with Food52, so that I can completely understand whether or not they're really going to want Dansk and Schoolhouse. I'm not really sure which. Which makes the story even sadder in a way, because what do you, what do you do there?
- [14:40]
B
Yeah, well, okay, so America's Test Kitchen is also, it's, it's self owned by this company called Marquee Brands, which is this big. They buy brands and kind of license them out in a variety of ways. And so it's possible that, you know, they'll spin off Schoolhouse and Dansk to their parent company and who knows what happens. Then it's possible they'll sell, you know, Dansk and Schoolhouse to somebody else. I'm sure they're, you know, interested buyers for those two companies. But, you know, it's also like, keep in mind, the vast majority of the employees of these companies have been laid off. So there's this big interruption. So it's not like, you know, if a transaction happens, it has to happen soon to sort of capture all of the, to bring it back, to bring either of these companies back to where they were. So this is kind of like an emergency situation and it's really just too bad. But this is sort of an unfortunate story over the holidays.
- [15:28]
A
Yeah. And as you say, we don't want to lay the blame at private equity feet, Fred.
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B
Well, many people would and they would not be crazy wrong in this case.
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A
Many will be pointing that finger, but not us, Fred.
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B
No, no.
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A
We'll just put the facts out and let people make up their own mind about that. Moving on, we're going to talk about Sandow's latest acquisition.
- [15:51]
B
Indeed, just a few weeks after scooping up Canadian design magazine, Azure, Sandow Design Group has made another purchase, this time acquiring Architonic. I understand you have history with archatomic tennis. Do you want to explain what it is? It's sort of a European company. I'm sure not everyone is super familiar with it.
- [16:09]
A
No. Well, I mean, it's interesting. So back in, I want to say, 2016, Interior Design magazine was, was packaging Archetonic with their Product Find database and offering you Architectonic, this European database that was used by architects and designers in Europe and you could put up your product offerings. I was helping to run Avery Boardman at the time, and so we were putting a bunch of sofas up online and getting inquiries from Europe as a result of the connection. But it was part of the advertising pattern package, interestingly enough, that Interior Design was offering. Advertise some pages, get on the product find, get on Archetonic and be searchable from this big European database.
- [17:01]
B
Yeah, that's what I mean. I think big European database is kind of what Archetonic is. It's this enormous repository of product information. If you're an architecture designer, you can log on, you can find sofas from Avery Boardman, you can find, you know, Windows, you can find all kinds of building materials. They have something like 400,000 products or something like that, sort of like a centralized library for browsing product. And they make money by charging brands to list their goods with Archetonics. So that's kind of what it is. And I think that the rationale behind acquiring it is not dissimilar from what you just said. I think you fold it into the broader Sandow library. You can sell a brand advertising through interior design. You can say, hey, if you sign up for Material bank for this amount of time will also put you on Archetonic. There's all kinds of synergies in that regard. If you own a lot of international design brands, you can sort of sell across them. And I think that's what Adam. Adam Sandow wants to do, at least in the short term. That's kind of the thesis here.
- [17:59]
A
Yeah. And I think that the partnership years ago certainly got a lot of wheels turning at Sandow. And I think a lot of the idea behind Material bank was very much informed and influenced by this, by this partnership with Archetonics. So, I mean, it makes sense to fully acquire. I get the sense that Adam Sandow, who, as we know, likes to acquire businesses.
- [18:23]
B
He does.
- [18:24]
A
He likes to acquire them, but honestly, I think he likes learning from them and sort of better understanding how they operate and what they do. In as much as he likes the actual end result of whatever the product is, I think he's always just interested to get under the hood of a lot of these companies and learn from them. So it's always as much a scientific lab and a place where experimentation is happening with Sandow. And then I think the scale is another big part of what he's doing. And as you and I were talking about before the show, many are starting to believe that we're seeing a bit of a resurgence in Europe. You're certainly seeing the financial markets in Europe have been very strong this past year, and many are starting to think that maybe some of the European business is coming back. Many in the industry had somewhat given up on Europe as being a big driver for them. And while the business hasn't run away yet, I think we're Seeing definitely more than just green shoots coming out of Europe recently.
- [19:28]
B
Yeah, him and Gary Friedman can get together and RH Paris and sort of divide up the continent.
- [19:34]
A
Exactly.
- [19:35]
B
Adam and Gary. Yeah, it's really interesting. As you say, Europe is definitely, there's some energy there. And I think that like, you know, Adam Sandow opened up Material Bank Europe a couple years ago. We should say, by the way, he's back as CEO of Material bank. There was this sort of very impressive former Amazon executive who is no longer there. Adam's back at the, back at the helm at Material bank and you know, according to him it's grown something 80% over the past year. So clearly there's a lot of opportunity for Material Bank. So you know, why not while you're growing in Europe with your sort of big cool tech company, why not acquire, you know, media brands along the way, data information services? Why not, you know, you put together kind of a cool portfolio and as you said, he's kind of an experimental acquirer. There's sort of this, it's not like this like hyper perfect plan, that's 3D chess. I think Adam just likes to bring a lot of like minded businesses together, get a big network and kind of see what happens. And you know, I think some of them will work, some of them won't and you know, but I think there's some logic to that.
- [20:32]
A
Yeah, no, I agree. We know that he loves data and he loves insight into lots of different markets and this certainly provides him with that. So it'll be interesting to see how all of these pieces fit together. And if there's one thing that we've learned is they don't have to, to your point, fit together seamlessly. I think they can do as much to just inform him as the direction of where things are going as anything else. And it'll be interesting to talk to him now that he is back at the helm of Material bank to hear what's happening with that operation, where that's all going and how this all fits in with the media empire of Lux and interior design and all the other titles. It is impressive. So we'll look forward to that conversation and hopefully learning a great deal more. In the meantime, we're going to move on and talk about AI in real estate. For the Wall Street Journal last week, Jessica Flint wrote about a pair of California real estate agents who are employing AI to add larger than life graphics, including knights and dragons to their listings. Fred, how do we even show this place off? What's the angle?
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C
A $70 million. Estate made for a king. This place really does have it all.
- [21:54]
A
Maybe we just show off the lifestyle.
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C
I've got it. Let's have a full blown medieval battle on the polo field. Infantry, Archers, Cavalry. This is going to be insane. Soldiers splashing around in the pool, playing poker, shooting billiards, working out in the gym. We can even have them watching a movie in the theater room. This is going to be epic.
- [22:24]
B
Can we get them to make a teaser video for the podcast? Dennis? I think we can be money well spent. Obviously this is an audio medium, but what you can see in this teaser video for this, a crazy $70 million estate is exactly what those guys were saying is they used AI or they hired a company to use AI to make a promo video. But it's not just a cool swooping camera through the mansion, it's there are these AI Knights having a battle in the polo field and AI knights hanging out in the movie room. And I wouldn't say it looks like a big budget Hollywood movie, but it looks like a pretty good B grade Hollywood movie. There's a dragon flying over the property. It was certainly fun to look. What do you make of it?
- [23:08]
A
I agree. Certainly fun to look at. And at a time where people seem to be feeling a little sensitive about AI and what it's going to do and, and how it's being used, I think many people feel like, yes, this is what I should be used for this.
- [23:23]
B
This is why Nvidia is worth $5 trillion and why we're reopening Three Mile Island. It's generating energy supporting the American economy required to make dragons real estate videos. I mean, I will say, like, yeah, if you're looking for a harmless, fun use of AI, I think we found it here. This is just kind of a, I don't know, just kind of a fun, silly usage of the technology. Even the video itself kind of acknowledged how ridiculous it was. You've got these two, it's two brothers and like in the video they're kind of like jokingly going back and forth each other, like, can we really make this video or not? You know, like there's a sort of meta component to it, you know, And I think probably on some level they also made this video because they knew it would be covered by places like the wall. So there's sort of like a novelty value in doing this. But I do think that, like, look, there's no doubt that AI is making it easier to make this kind of video content and people are going to experiment. Maybe not quite as crazily as this, but. But people are going to do stuff kind of like this, I think.
- [24:20]
A
I agree. And, and I think the, the setup here was so interesting. How many customers are there for a $70 million home with 12 bedrooms, 25 bathrooms, and a polo field? I mean, this is, this is a small audience that they're trying to reach. Right. But May might see himself as a king with an army of knights who are playing pickleball and also swimming in the pool in their full armor. Fred, they didn't even take off the armor to go swimming in the pool.
- [24:49]
B
Well, it's AI, but yeah. Or herself as a queen, I might add.
- [24:53]
A
Yes, well, exactly.
- [24:54]
B
Yeah. I mean, I think like, you know, if we can sort of bring this down to, you know, a slightly more sane level, I mean, I do think, and I wrote about this for Business of Home. I forget if we talked about this on the podcast, but, but designers are kind of experimenting with the technology as well. You can make an AI video of a presentation you give to a client. Now, most people won't put a dragon in it, of course, but people are doing kind of simulated walkthroughs and kind of interesting little lifestyle Y videos that they make with AI for their clients experimenting here and there. There's even this. I don't know if it's cool or creepy, but this concept that you could put your clients into the video so you could be like, here's what I think it'll look like if you are living in this living room I'm going to design for. And I mean, that sounds a little weird and dystopian right now, but I don't think we're that crazy far away from doing that kind of thing. So this is maybe just sort of a fun, goofy story, but I think it speaks of the way that people are going to use this technology on a day to day basis in the not too distant future.
- [25:53]
A
I agree. And I think if anything, I mean, all joking aside about all of this, it does show you a fun, creative way to interact with this video component. And is there a way to create a story? Is there a way to create a history history? And is there just a fun new way to present, whether it's real estate, whether it's interior design, or a brand.
- [26:16]
B
Presenting a product or something?
- [26:18]
A
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think all of these things can just stimulate creativity. And this was just a fun, innovative way to do something. A very different sort of staging component to it as well. I mean, it did show you images of the actual house and the rooms as well, but definitely created a very different feel for it. Again, I think that you're going to be seeing a lot more of this in the future.
- [26:44]
B
Yeah. So we're ending on sort of a positive AI note. So next week we can come back with some doom and gloom. But for now, the Dragon video is good news is what we're saying.
- [26:54]
A
For now, we're amused. And so that's, I think, the takeaway. You can be amused by AI even if you fear its ultimate outcome. Finally, finally, some sad news to report. Hall of fame designer Thomas Britt has passed away this week, leaving behind a legacy of exuberant style. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Britt learned his craft at the Parsons School of Design and settled down in New York, where he launched his namesake firm in 1964. His passing has prompted an outpouring of grief from the design community. Editor Mitchell Owens recalled helping Britt with his 2017 Montgomery Fabulous, describing the designer as great and bombastic and terrifying and a person you always wanted to please just to get that puckish smile. And Fred, you and I both remember Thomas Britt, Tom Britt, as being a little terrifying. Yes.
- [27:50]
B
Yeah. What a character. And he definitely was a little scary. You know, I got a call out of the. Early on in my career, I got a call out of the blue from him, and he had sort of this kind of gruff voice and he was not too happy about what I'd written. I don't exactly remember why, but he was upset. But then the guy conversation ended. We were kind of joking and gossiping about various people and the puckish smile element was really real. He could be scary, but he was wickedly funny and an incredible designer, too. It was really nice to have this opportunity to go back and look at some of his older work. He's just been a singular talent his entire career. Very vivid design. Very. Sometimes you look at old design from the 80s and it kind of all blends together. Not his stuff. His stuff sticks out. And it always. So, yeah, I don't know. He'll certainly be remembered. And what a talented guy.
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A
Yeah. No, no, no. His work stood out. His character always stood out. He was a memorable figure and colorful and in a way, I think represented what you sort of want designers to be, a multi dimensional character, larger than life. Indeed. Indeed. I'm sorry that we never got to see him doing reels on social media. All right, that's it for the news, but there's plenty more to check out on businessofhome.com including the latest showroom openings and a guide to Paris design week. We'll be back in a minute. But first, a quick break. We're taking a quick break from the show to remind you about Laloy. Vegas Market is just around the corner, so don't wait another minute to make your appointment to stop by the Laloy showroom. It's the best way to experience a personalized tour of everything new from Leloy and their partners, including Leanne Ford, Amber Lewis and Bridget Romanik, plus all of their new one of a kind vintage collections. Open a trade account and make an appointment@loloirugs.com that's l o l o I rugs.com and don't forget to follow laloyloyrug on Instagram and TikTok. And we're back. We're getting to the end of the show here, but before we go, we'd like to take a second to highlight anything going on in the industry that might have caught our eye. Fred, what caught your eye?
- [30:16]
B
Yes, a big deal in the world of big furniture caught my eye over the holidays. Manwa made a 58.7 million dollar acquisition of Southern Motion and Fusion Furniture. Two companies we, or three companies, rather. We really don't talk about that much on the show because they're not really in the designer world. But this is, you know, certainly a big deal. A lot of money getting thrown around. You know, I think there's maybe a tariff element to this on some level. Manual is a Chinese company. These are domestic manufacturers. Maybe they're kind of insulating themselves against future trade fluctuations. But it's also, I think, a sign that, you know, deals are heating up. I think 2026 is really going to, to be the year of a lot of deals. We talked about one on the show already. I'm sure we'll talk about more next week, if not the week after that. So, you know, I think, I think that the deal landscape is certainly hot right now. We'll catch your eye this week, Dennis.
- [31:04]
A
Indeed, I think we'll be talking about a lot of deals in the future. Another thing that we might well be talking about perhaps as early as next week's show is just before we came on the air, President Trump put out some communication and all the news agencies have picked it up that he'd like to ban large investors from buying single family homes. So Blackstone and some other big private equity corporations were among the list. And I saw their stocks reacted to the downside on this news. But again, we were talking about affordability this is perhaps one way to address housing affordability is to, is to look and see if we can stop these large investors from buying single family homes, although they actually own a very small percentage of the overall market. But, but interesting to see this being floated and we'll see if, if Congress picks this up and, and puts this into law, interestingly enough. Finally, we repeated for our show over the holidays, we repeated our conversation with Ben Pentrif. And I was so excited to see that the King of England released his New Year's honors list and has named Ben Pent Treith an obe. An Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a great honor in recognition for Ben's contribution to the design industry. That's a huge honor for him and I wanted to congratulate him and send him all of our best. He's a great figure and I'm so glad to see him get this recognition.
- [32:31]
B
So is it Sir Ben Pentreath now or.
- [32:33]
A
Well, he doesn't get to be called sir. He's not, he's not knighted, sadly. But OBE is pretty nice to have next to your name.
- [32:41]
B
Well, when the king listens to Ben's podcast episode, I'm sure the night can't be far away. Anyway, couldn't happen to a smarter, more interesting, kinder, kinder guy. So very cool for Ben.
- [32:51]
A
Absolutely. We're, we're big fans of Ben and we congratulate him to be sure. All right, that's all the time we have today. Thanks so much for listening. If you want to keep up with the latest news, browse job listings or take a workshop, visit us online at businessofhomes. If you want to get in touch with the show, write to us at podcast at businessofhome.
- [33:11]
B
Com.
- [33:11]
A
This episode was produced by Fred Nicholaus and Caroline Burke and edited by Michael Castaneda. I'm Dennis Scully. Have a great weekend, and we'll be back with you on Monday.