TBPN Podcast Summary

Episode: Diet TBPN: October 30, 2025
Hosts: John Coogan & Jordi Hays
Date: October 31, 2025

Main Theme

This episode dives deep into the latest earnings of tech giants Meta and Google, touching on the sustainability of their advertising-driven business models, their massive AI investments, corporate culture differences, and the growing impact of AI on content and employment. The hosts also riff on trending stories from OpenAI's looming IPO to Nvidia’s meteoric rise, plus a humorous look at robotics, crypto, and viral tech news.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meta’s Earnings & Advertising Juggernaut

• Meta’s Q3 2025 earnings: Record revenue reported, but shares fell 7% on warnings of rising AI-related CapEx.
  • "Meta reported record revenue in the third quarter. But the technology company warned of accelerating capital expenditures around artificial intelligence sending its stock down 7% now $1.7 trillion company." – Ben Thompson [00:00]
• Reels revenue growth: Outperforming nearly all of US TV advertising.
  • "Standout for me reels at north of a $50 billion run rate." – James Allworth [00:19]
  • "Which is more than all of TV combined." – Ben Thompson [00:23]
• The persistent power of advertising: Hosts question how ad-based cash flows change as companies mature, with reflections on historic capital access fueling today’s tech giants.

2. The Culture & Strategy Behind Meta and Google

• Comparing company cultures:
  • Google is described as “nerdy,” mission-driven (organizing the world’s information), producing offspring like Maps and Waymo.
    • "Google had a very different culture. You know, it's a PhD research project, sort of an academic campus." – Ben Thompson [04:30]
  • Meta’s mission is bluntly characterized as monetizing attention.
    • "What's Meta's mission? Monetize the world's attention." – James Allworth [05:16]
• Diversification as Search Stalls:
  • Google’s lineup: Cloud, Waymo, Maps, Gmail, Chrome, DeepMind, Google AI. As search ages, these bets become increasingly important.
  • Meta’s rebrand and “side project era” discussed, with Reels as a standout success.

3. The Role and Risk of AI Investments

• Meta’s AI and Reality Labs:
  • Critique of billions channeled to risky bets (Metaverse, Ray-Ban Vision, Reality Labs) with uncertain ROI.
    • "Metta is spending all this money on? You’ve spent 70 billion on real reality labs to make the Ray Ban vision. Are you serious?" – Ben Thompson [07:17]
  • Discussion about Meta Vibe as a lackluster first AI product.
    • "The first AI product that Meta announced was Meta Vibe. That does not inspire confidence." – James Allworth [09:04]
• AI shifting content creation:
  • The prospect that future YouTube content might be AI-generated, eliminating creator payouts.

4. OpenAI’s Potential IPO

• OpenAI’s valuation ambitions:
  • Expectations of a record-breaking IPO.
    • "OpenAI lays the groundwork for juggernaut IPO at up to a $1 trillion valuation." – Ben Thompson [06:31]
  • Comparison drawn between highly profitable scaled tech companies and high-burn, high-growth (but unprofitable) OpenAI.
    • "Versus OpenAI, which we know will be losing, you know, tens of billions of dollars at the time of the ipo." – James Allworth [06:53]

5. The Age of Trillion-Dollar Companies & Nvidia’s Ascent

• Nvidia’s timeline to $5 trillion:
  • Staggering acceleration highlighted; celebratory tone and jokes about “Korea having the world’s best fried chicken.”
    • "The first trillion took him 6138 days. The second trillion, they did it in 180 days. The third trillion in 66 days..." – Ben Thompson [10:34]

6. Tech Humor and Viral Moments

• Call of Duty Movie:
  • Surprise at Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg attached to direct.
    • "Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg team on Paramount and Activision's Call of Duty movie." – James Allworth [08:22]
• Home robotics banter:
  • Jokes about $20k robots doing chores (badly) and tongue-in-cheek speculation on security and social impact.
    • "20k to simulate the experience of a roommate with a ketamine problem." – James Allworth [11:20]

7. Geopolitics & Regulatory Hints

• AI and chip/regulation worries:
  • Controversies about possible US tech restrictions (selling Blackwell chips to China).
    • "My sense is that selling Blackwell chips to China would quite possibly be the Most unpopular tech policy move of the Trump admin..." – James Allworth [12:41]

8. Crypto and Payments

• MasterCard’s acquisition of ZeroHash:
  • Significance for on/off ramp crypto infrastructure in the US.
    • "MasterCard is set to acquire crypto startup ZeroHash for nearly 2 billion." – James Allworth [13:33]

9. Tesla & Executive Incentives

• Elon Musk’s pay plan and impact:
  • Defense of large performance-based compensation and Musk’s outsized role in Tesla’s growth.
    • "There is no one remotely close to Elon Musk for Tesla." – Ben Thompson [14:26]

10. Apple Maps Comeback

• Apple’s product trajectory:
  • Former executive’s firing over Apple Maps, and retrospective analysis of Apple’s strategy and leadership, plus personal anecdotes about using the app.
    • "Apple Maps was this kind of disastrous launch where it really didn't work as well anywhere near Google Maps. But eventually they turned it around..." – Ben Thompson [15:05]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Meta/Google contrast:

  • "[Google’s] mission is organizing the world's information...It's a little bit harder to jump from: 'our mission is to bring people together' to 'we're generating AI or VR.'" – Ben Thompson [04:30]

• On founder privilege:

  • "One factor was founders having wealthy parents. So the founders felt like they could take these really massive high risk swings because they weren’t going for a base hit." – James Allworth [01:28]

• On big bets:

  • “There’s a ton of gravestones in the graveyard from various note taking apps and chat apps and Google readers over there. But overall, they wound up building a very diverse, very valuable business…” – Ben Thompson [03:07]

• On tech scale-up:

  • “The first trillion is the hardest.” – Ben Thompson [10:34]

• On Meta’s risk:

  • “Zuck is repeating the 2022 sinking of a great money machine in Meta with wasteful spend. The Metaverse sucked, and AI is nearly as dumb.” – Ben Thompson [08:38]

• On robotics in the home:

  • "Me after loading the dishwasher instead of paying a robot $20,000 to do it for me." – Ben Thompson [11:03]
  • "Is it gay to have sex with a female robot teleoperated by a man, Elon Musk?" – James Allworth [12:23]

Timestamps of Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | |--------------------------------------------|--------------------| | Meta’s earnings & ad future | 00:00 – 02:00 | | Company culture and diversification | 02:00 – 05:20 | | AI investment critique & YouTube’s future | 05:20 – 06:00 | | OpenAI IPO comparison | 06:26 – 07:53 | | Meta & Google’s spending/side projects | 07:17 – 09:00 | | Nvidia’s rise & celebratory banter | 10:00 – 10:57 | | Robotics, humor, and viral memes | 11:00 – 12:41 | | Tech geopolitics and regulation | 12:41 – 13:23 | | Crypto infrastructure deal | 13:33 – 14:08 | | Tesla incentives & Apple Maps story | 14:08 – 15:30 |

Tone & Style

The episode is witty, fast-paced, with a balance of sharp industry analysis and lighthearted, sometimes irreverent banter. There’s a clear rapport between the hosts, who blend data-driven takes with internet-native humor.

Concluding Note

Listeners are left with a sense of awe at the speed and scale of big tech, the dizzying sums flowing into AI, and a reminder that no bet is too big—or too weird—for Silicon Valley. The episode closes with Halloween-themed anticipation for the next show.