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You’ll find out pretty quickly that both myself and Keith are big fans of Diller- he’s the guy who brought us Roots, and in so doing he pioneered the introduction of the TV mini series- he green lighted some of the best TV comedies- from Cheers to Taxi to the Simpsons not to mention some of the best movies of the 80’s.

He also got involved in some of the biggest, most high profile and dramatic media battles of the 80’s and 90’s. And then he pivoted, - and he pivoted many times throughout his career eventually becoming the main driver behind online dating- he got in early with Match.com and later his company bought plenty of fish, tinder and practically owned the dating sector.

And though it all, Diller was this calm, very classy guy- it makes for a fascinating story, enjoy.

this is the story of one of the most remarkable and probably overall talented people we’re ever likely to cover. 

A rugby superstar who would go on to lead Heinz for 20 years, become one of the highest paid and most successful CEO’s during that time while at the same time building a media and business empire on the other side of the ocean, who charmed and mixed with global elite, became Ireland’s first billionaire and then lost it all. It’s a remarkable story - enjoy

2008 was a monumental year- financial markets collapsed and many countries, including Ireland, where both myself and Keith live, found out pretty quickly that we’d been living in a bubble.

And while the impact of this crash affected so many people around the world, I don’t think any other country had such a huge proportion of its citizens affected as adversely as the 370,000 people in Iceland.

So in this episode we examine why Iceland pivoted from its traditional industries into banking, how its economy grew at a breakneck speed and then how it all came crashing down.

The WeWork story is one that most of us are familiar with but as you’d expect we go deep into how Nueman was able to raise billions from some of the savviest investors, and from other investors like Softbank, who, as we find out, aren’t very savvy at all.

What I love about this story is that as soon as I started digging, I kept coming across facts and figures and quotes from Neuman that just left me stunned- how did he get investors to fall for his schtick?

We dig into Masayoshi Son the founder of Softbank, this revered investor who takes the biggest bets and also, the most reckless ones.

Even if you thought you knew the WeWork story, as I myself thought, I promise that there’s a lot in here that will keep you in a state of disbelief.

It’s an incredible story- enjoy

this is such a fascinating story for so many different reasons- we have traders who were found guilty and sent to jail in the UK for a crime that that apparently wasn’t a crime

We have senior bankers caught on tape talking about collusion and openly manipulating the interest rates and yet they weren’t even charged and we have regulators who knew everything that was going on who had solid eveidence to go after senior bankers yet chose to stitch up those further down the line.

This story goes to the heart of everything that is wrong with the financial sector which is why I love it, hope you do too

In this episode we dig down into the very beginnings of social media, where MySpace was streets ahead of everyone else.

And then Rupert Murdoch, the most famous, the most feared and perhaps one if not the  most successful media tycoons of the 20th century enters the fray and I don’t know about you, but any business story that has Rupert Murdoch in it is going to be a cracker.

Article: The Myspace Meltdown: Murdoch, Missteps, and the Lost Battle for Social Media

Welcome to todays episode "Ackman vs. Icahn: The Herbalife Battle That Shook Wall Street"- now shook might be too strong a word- but it definitely gripped Wall Street and the business media as billionaire hedge funders Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn publicly feuded when Ackman took a short position on Herbalife and Icahn took the other  side of the bet.

https://gbspod.com/blog/ackman-vs-icahn-the-herbalife-battle-that-shook-wall-street

In the episode we look at how 2 very different, diametrically opposed men came together and built a tiny Canadian wireless company into a huge success, and in doing so transformed the way people did business.

And Blackberrys weren’t just transformative, they were loved. 

The company was just hitting its stride when the rug was pulled from underneath them by Steve Jobs with the launch of the iPhone in 2007. 

But as always, what’s really interesting here are the main characters involved, how they built up the company, the pitfalls they encountered but also the nuances- it’s not as straightforward as you’d think- for example did you know that the iPhone captured just 1% of the smartphone market in its first full year, and that the iPhone wasn’t even the best selling phone at Christmas 2008, it was outsold by a Blackberry. And indeed Blackberry kept growing and reached its peak 4 years after the launch of the iPhone- this is a cracking story and I hope you enjoy it.

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Link to the story on our blog: https://app.podcastpage.io/settings/great-business-stories/blog/edit/sumner-redstones-battles-billion-dollar-deals

Redstone, who died in 2020 is one of the most interesting and successful media moguls of the the 20th century - he bought MTV before it took off, he bought CBS and Paramount studio.

We examine how he built his business from a handful of cinemas to a media empire

We dig into the huge deals he got involved in

We ask if he was a true visionary or a hugely ambitious opportunist

We look at how his dysfunctional and fractured relationship with his family led to the dynasty-like soap opera that probably eclipsed his business successes.

Also, this episode was recorded in 2023 so before Paramount was sold.

And just to let you know, at the start  of the podcast we mention our main sources- there’s a link at the bottom of this podcast that brings you to our blog where the main sources are highlighted at the top of the article, and there’s links to some really great photos there that are relevant to this story.

PayPal: The Greatest Startup Story of All Time

This has been one of my favourite stories to cover, because you have such big characters who are now very much sitting at the top of the table business wise - we’re talking Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, David Sacks and many more.

And it’s fascinating to recall how these guys started out and nearly didn’t make it

There is so much drama in the story with boardroom coups,  Russian fraudsters, Musk being forced to merge his company against his will, the dotcom bubble bursting- I loved it 

Click on the following link to go our article on this episode where we have links to our main sources as well as relevant photos: gbspod.com/blog/paypal-greatest-startup-story-of-all-time

In today's episode, we're digging into the Tyco scandal of the early 2000s, specifically focusing on Tyco's CEO Dennis Kozlowski, who was charged and convicted of stealing $132 million from Tyco to fund a lavish lifestyle.

While other Tyco executives were also charged, and there were additional charges that we don't delve into, we do mention them briefly. However, our main focus is on the primary charges against Kozlowski.

What's really unusual about this story is that both Keith and I started our research believing we knew the story - a tale of corporate greed. We expected to uncover why and how Kozlowski syphoned off so much money.

But as we dug deeper, the actual story turned out to be quite different, and it makes for a great episode.

We hope you enjoy it!

This is the fascinating story of how Jho Low, young Malaysian businessman educated in Harrow formed one of the most notorious and lucrative business partnerships with the Malaysian Prime minister and they syphoned off a jaw dropping $4.5 billion 

It’s the story of how Jho Low and his friends spent their ill gotten gains by splashing out on parties, multi-million dollar properties, jewellery, art as well as financing Hollywood movies- 1 movie in particular that you’ll definitely know.

And it’s a story of Malaysia and the endemic corruption that emanates from the very top- a prime minister who not only brazenly lootes the national coffers but who is also the main suspect in  the grisly murder of a young woman.

This episode was recorded in April 2023, and even now in April 2024  there are still some court cases going on related to 1MDB because this is a business scandal that’s going to be with us for many more years- It’s a really fascinating story and we hope you enjoy it.

Sources

As we usually have way too many sources to link in here, please click on link below that brings you to an article that I wrote to accompany this episode- all of the sources used in this episode are at the end of the article :

https://gbspod.com/blog/the-1mdb-heist-how-jho-low-the-prime-minister-stole-45-billion

We dig deep into Ray Kroc and how he and the Mcdonald brothers created the fast food revolution

What was Ray Kroc really like? Was he a shyster, a lucky salesman or  true visionary?

Is he really a villain as the movie made him out to be-And crucially, did Ray Kroc renege on an agreement to pay the McdOnalds brothers commission on all sales going forward? 

I hope you enjoy this one and remember, a new episode is released on the first of every month 

This is the fascinating story of Ivar Kreuger, the most famous Swedish person and probably the most successful business person you’ve never heard of.

In his prime during the roaring twenties Ivar built up a fortune worth $100 billion in today’s money

He invented many of the financial instruments that are still being used to this day- the stocks and bonds of his companies were the most widely held securities in the world

He lent billions to cash strapped governments and became a personal advisor to the US president. And yet, if you google him now, he’s mentioned in the same breath as Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff

Was Ivar a scam artist or one of the most brilliant business minds of the 20th century? Or was he both?

The book "Barbarians at the Gate" is probably the best business story ever told. It’s a riveting account of the leveraged buyout of the tobacco and food giant  RJR Nabisco in the late 1980s, 

The story gives a great insight into what exactly leveraged buyouts are.

We learn how Henry Kravis and his cousin George Roberts formed the legendary LBO firm KKR.

We see how banks and LBO firms manage to profit handsomely even when deals go bad.

And we see how industry titans end up playing second fiddle when they open their doors to the sharks on wall street. 

It’s full of drama, rivalries, big ego’s and lots and lots of money and we hope you enjoy it. 

This was one of the biggest business scandals of the 1980’s when British Airways financed a dirty tricks campaign in an attempt to publicly blacken Richard Bransons name and put his fledgling airline out of business

We find out why Richard Branson got into the airline business?

How he managed to get under the skin of British Airways

We discuss why British Airways, one of the biggest and most respected companies at the time, decided to wage a dirty tricks campaign against Branson’s tiny new airline.

And who were the people within BA behind it all?

It's a cracking story and we hope you enjoy it as well

New Coke- probably the worst product launch in the history of business. 

This is the story of how, in 1985, Coke’s superstar CEO, the man who could do no wrong, decided to replace the 100 year old coke formula with a new sweeter tasting coke.

Who was this CEO and what were the reasons that led to this decision?

Why was there such an intense backlash?

And how did Coke not anticipate the backlash?

Was it all just a conspiracy?

It was definitely one of the worst product launches in consumer history and it makes for a great story- we hope you enjoy it 

A great business story thoroughly researched and brought to life by Caemin. New episode released every Wednesday

This has been one of my favourite stories to research — because this story is just that good. It begins with a young engineer running a small construction company, he has an epiphany in the back of a New York taxi.

From there, it unfolds through boardroom upheavals, aggressively structured deals, and a long-term vision that never wavered. What sets Arnault apart isn't just the finance or tactics — it's the creativity you rarely see in a business titan.

It's a cracking story. Enjoy.

Promoted at just 26 to head AOL’s messaging platform, then spearheaded Facebook's growth helping to grow it from 15 million users to 840 million, buying 10% of the Golden State Warriors for just $25 million, being the public face of SPACs- a move that tarnished his reputation, co-hosting the massively popular All-In podcast, and just in the last few weeks, making billions from a very early AI investment- it’s a cracking story- enjoy. 

I’m sure I’ll come across other people I admire for their business acumen but after researching Dell for this episode, he’s at the top- one of these people who is just brilliant at business

At 16, he made more money in one summer than his teachers made all year.

At 18, he was building computers in a dorm room with sales reaching up to $80,000 some months

By 27 he was the youngest CEO ever to lead a Fortune 500 company. He did it by always thinking about how to consistently eliminate unnecessary steps. 

But he’s tough as well- there were big battles with Carl Icahn where Dell comes out on top. And what I really, really love about Michale Dell is he does it all with no ego, no scandal, no politics- just great business. It’s a cracking episode, enjoy.

Most of us know who Reid Hoffman is- I thought I knew a good bit about him before we did that episode on PayPal, but it was while researching that episode that I found out just how smart and how strategic he is. He was one of the first people in silicon valley to understand the potential of the internet to build social networks- he was one of the very first investors in Friendster and in Facebook and of course he built LinkedIn, selling it to Microsoft for $26 billion. He was a founding investor in Open AI, one of the first investors in AirBnb- this guy has had so  much success but it hasn’t been all plain sailing- he got caught up in his own Jeffrey Epstein story- it’s a cracking episode- enjoy.

He was once the second richest man on Earth — richer than Bezos, Arnault, Buffet. He left school at 15 and over the last 50 years he has built a huge empire spanning ports, power plants, airports, his success fuelled by risk, relentlessness, and a powerful friendship with India’s prime minister.

I knew about Adani for a while but it only when I mentioned him briefly when I was talking about the Hindenburg Group in the episode on Short Sellers that i thought I’d love to cover this guy- and his story is so well worth it- there’s billions, there’s a kidnapping, there’s a terror attack, there’s a lot of alleged corruption- it’s a cracking episode — enjoy.

Black made billions with junk bonds, complex financial engineering, buying bankrupt companies and turning them around- he was aggressive, ruthless and very good at what he did.

He was Michael Milken’s right hand man. After Milken went to jail, Black built Apollo - an asset manager overseeing $850 billion. He bought the painting The Scream for $120 million. And now he’s forced to explain why he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million —after Epstein had served jail time.

It’s a cracking episode—enjoy.

I love business stories from any time- as long as it’s full of drama, success or failure, interesting characters, I don’t care if it a year old or 1000 years old, and the Tulip Bubble from the 1700’s has drama in spades- I’ve always wanted to dig into it because tulipmania is remembered as the first market bubble. I mean picture the scene, january of 1637, in taverns across Holland, fortunes were made and lost on flowers that bloomed for just one week a year. Men traded houses, farms, for a single bulb. The story has been told for centuries as the world’s first great financial bubble—the madness of crowds overtaken by financial speculation. It’s a tale of greed, folly, and overnight collapse.

But there’s a twist in this tale and who doesn’t love a good old twist?

It’s a cracking story—enjoy.

Khashoggi has been on my radar since I was a teenager-because he was always in the photos at the best parties- this 5 foot 4, bald Saudi businessman surrounded by the rich, the famous and of course beautiful women. Back then he was described as being one the richest men in the world —  he was certainly the biggest spender. He threw the biggest parties, owned 3 jets and built the world’s most expensive yacht.

But behind the glamour was something darker. He brokered billion-dollar arms deals, sent escorts to charm world leaders, and helped dictators stash their stolen fortunes and as a result, he got caught up in some of the biggest scandals of the 80’s.

Khashoggi was a networker, a fixer, a man who lived on the thin line between business and crime. Presidents, kings, and CEOs all needed him, and that was his ultimate protection. 

It’s a fascinating story- enjoy

I wanted to cover this story because I’m a huge Formula 1 fan—and if you follow F1, you can’t ignore Red Bull.

And I knew the bones of the story, about how Mateschitz took a weird Thai tonic for truck drivers and turned it into a multi billion dollar global empire.

But he did more than just launch a product- he created a whole new category—and then to promote it, he didn’t just attach red bull to extreme sports- Red Bull became a part of extreme sports to such an extent that they created their own extreme sports.

And the most extraordinary thing about it all, and I’m saying this as someone who drinks Red Bull, is that the product itself doesn’t really taste nice- how did he do it?

It’s a cracking episode—enjoy.

it's the story of how two childhood friends bolted a motor to a bicycle — and more or less ignited a cultural revolution because over the next century, Harley-Davidson became a symbol of rebellion, of freedom and of America

But behind  the myth, the company has had a turbulent time. There were strikes, near-bankruptcy, Japanese rivals, political trade wars, and even Warren Buffett riding to the rescue.

Today, Harley is still the most famous name in motorcycles... and yet it’s in dire straits, it’s big bike sales have been dwindling and it’s move to modernise has been disastrous- it just sold 33 of it’s electric bikes in the last quarter

So what happened?

This is the story of Harley Davidson. And it’s a cracking episode — enjoy.

I’ve wanted to cover Wynn for ages because this is the guy who built modern day Vegas- make no mistake about it-He took Vegas from its mob and gambling roots into a resort destination focused on luxuries, high-end amenities and family-friendly spectacles. The Vegas we see today was built and shaped by Wynn- his vision, his ambition, his attention to detail. And then after 50- years being at the very top of the food chain in Vegas, it all came crashing down- literally overnight. It’s a fascinating story- enjoy

He was once a star trader with Julian Robertson's Tiger Capital, he then left and set up his own Asian hedge fund only to fall into trouble, charged with insider trading, come out of that scandal, build a personal fortune estimated at $20 billion, became known within Wall Street as the greatest investor you’ve never heard of.” and then loses it all, within a matter of days- who was Bill Hwang, where did it all go wrong for him , and even more importantly, at least for me how this story shines a light on what is a ticking timebomb that I believe is going to result in another serious financial meltdown-wits a cracking episode, enjoy

Here's a guy who won the equivalent of £350,000 on a horse race when he was just 16 years old, made international headlines at 21 for eloping with the daughter of one of the world's richest men, employed 400 people by the time he was 23, and went on to become one of the most ruthless and cunning corporate raiders in the US during the 80s, and then emerged in the 90s as one of the most prominent anti-globalisation and anti-EU voices, helping to lay the foundation for what would become Brexit. And all the while publicly juggling his time between his ex-wife, his current wife, and his mistress. It's a cracking story – enjoy.

When he was just 24 years old Andreesen launched Netscape, the browser and company that kicked off what became the dot com boom, became a multi millionaire and took on Bill Gates and Microsoft - and he lost.

Then he started a new company, right as the bubble burst, and pivoted and persevered until he sold it and made another fortune. And then he started a16z, one of the most powerful venture capital firms in the world. And along the way he has had numerous controversies while also setting himself up as this very powerful kind of evangelical, but if you ask me, fanatical, techno optimist.

This is the story of Marc Andreessen. And it's a cracking episode—enjoy.

To clarify the title- I don’t love the Webvan story because it failed- I don’t like to see any company fail, but because the story behind Webvan is the story of the internet boom, those 5 years from 1995-2000 when me and my friends were young, eager, hungry and the internet opened up so many opportunities for us. And the Webvan story, it’s ambition, it’s scale, it’s stated purpose to replace grocery shopping- yes pretty mundane but also hugely impactful, and it’s demise was so fast a, it makes for a fascinating story set in a time that I have nothing but very fond memories of- enjoy, it’s a cracker.

At age nine, Jensen Huang couldn’t speak English and was scrubbing toilets in a Kentucky reform school. By 35, he’d taken Nvidia public. And by 60, he’d built the most valuable company on Earth.

How?

By betting everything—twice—on markets that didn’t even exist yet. First gaming. Then AI.

He convinced Sega to pay him not to deliver a chip. He built a million-selling chip in eight months, when the industry standard was two years. Now, with Nvidia powering the AI revolution, the world runs on chips bearing his vision.

This is the story of Jensen Huang. And it’s a cracking episode—enjoy.

Have you even heard of Victor Posner? I hadn’t but if you’re a fan of this show, you’ll know that one of mine and Keith’s favorite books of all time is Barbarians at the Gate, a rip roaring story about a leveraged buy-out and attempted hostile take over of RJR Nabisko from the 1980’s. So I love the drama around hostile takeovers, and I wanted to find out- who first started hostile takeovers in the 20th century, and it turned out to be this guy Victor Posner, I can say that I’d never come across such a lowlife. If you're ever looking for a person that symbolises everything that’s wrong with capitalism- and just to note- I’m a fan of capitalism overall- then Posner is your poster boy.

In 2012, Russian special forces arrived at Pavel Durov’s door—automatic rifles in hand. He didn’t answer and curiously, they left. They were there because Durov had built VK, Russia’s answer to Facebook, and was refusing Kremlin demands to take down certain pages. It made him a symbol of resistance. Or so the legend goes.

The truth? It’s difficult to say with any certainty. He called himself a defender of privacy, but quietly handed over user data in India. He raised $1.7 billion for a blockchain dream, only to have it shut down by the SEC. And in 2024, he was arrested in Paris for failing to stop criminal abuse on his platform.

He’s part visionary, part myth maker—equal parts privacy evangelist and pragmatic businessman.

This is the story of Pavel Durov- whatever the full truth is, it makes for a cracking episode—enjoy.

I love this story and I kinda love Estee lauder

In 1953, she told the world she’d found a secret recipe that she called Youth Dew —gifted by her uncle to a Russian princess. In truth? It was bath oil from an ex-boyfriend's lab. But the scent was sultry, the price was right, and women couldn’t get enough. And Youth dew would go on to pull in $150 million a year.

She claimed her father was a European aristocrat who wore gloves on Sundays. Actually? He ran a hardware store in Queens.

But she was one of the sharpest business minds of the 20th century, driven by a belief in herself, but also in a belief that she was empowering women.

From mixing creams in a shed to building a billion-dollar dynasty, the story of Estée Lauder is a cracker—enjoy.

What if I told you that the greatest cinematic universe of the 21st century almost went out of business because of the views of an influential psychiatrist. Or that in 1996 it went bankrupt because of the reckless ambitions of the guy behind Revlon, the cosmetics brand?And that one of the bondholders during the bankruptcy proceedings included the legendary and feared corporate raider Carl Icahn, who ended up getting outsmarted by the guys who eventually sold Marvel to Disney for $4 billion.

This isn’t just the story of superheroes. It’s the story of scrappy pulp magazines, of American culture in the 20th century, it’s the story of the creation of comic book characters that were turned into a multi-billion dollar licensing business, and it's a cracking story, enjoy. 

For all non Irish and UK listeners who mightn’t be aware of Mike Ashely, the billionaire retailer, than you're really in for a treat from alcohol fuelled meetings, to corporate espionage, this story of one of the UK’s most successful businessmen is a cracker, enjoy

This is the story of Palmer Luckey the guy who single handedly kickstarted modern virtual reality barefoot, in a garage, surrounded by a Frankenstein mess of hacked GameCubes and government-surplus headsets.

He then sold his 2 year old company to facebook for $2 billion and was then controversially kicked out of Facebook. But he bounced back by founding a defense tech company named after Aragorn’s sword in Lord of the Rings—a startup now worth $28 billion, quietly rewriting the rules of modern warfare with AI-powered drones and virtual border walls.

This is the fascinating story of a flip-flop-wearing, conspiracy-loving massively controversial tech disruptor who also happens to have the world’s largest video game collection in a missile silo 200 feet underground. Enjoy—it’s a cracker.

This is such a great story, like the very first Atari product was a wooden cabinet, with two knobs, and a piece of paper stuck onto it that read “Avoid Missing Ball For High Score.” Their first expansion plan involved literally sawing a hole in the wall to steal office space next door. 

And what if I told you that the same man who invented modern gaming also created the Chuck E Cheese chain of pizza joints. And he also turned down the opportunity to invest $50,000 for one third of Apple. The story of Nolan Bushnell is a hell of a ride—enjoy.

I wanted to dig into Livermore’s story ever since i came across him in the episode we did on short sellers- and what a story this is- he became a full time trader the age of 16, he built his own system that earned him billions in today's money, but so many times he didn’t follow his own system and went broke and bankrupt many times. This is the guy who shorted the 1929 crash and made over $2 billion from it. It’s a fascinating story- enjoy 

Welcome to the story of Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia — a company born in a tin shed, raised on anti-consumerism, and transformed into one of the boldest business experiments of the 21st century. Buckle up.

This is fascinating episode where we do a brief history of diamonds- what are the biggest, most valuable diamonds, and then we dig into some of the key people -how Cecil Rhodes built De Beers into a diamond monopoly, how Ernest Oppenheimer transformed diamonds by more or less inventing the concept of the diamond engagement ring, how Beny Steinmetz  who built a $6 billion fortune has seen that dwindle and faces extradition and jail terms in different jurisdictions, and how the emergence of lab grown diamonds has exploded in the last decade- it’s a fantastic episode with so many different stories- enjoy.

I love covering stories where it’s just about how someone does something differently, has a different worldview, and then uses that to have such a big and positive impact. I came across Paul Graham when I read the excellent book The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby —it’s full of great stories from the world of venture capital. Before I read it, I had heard of Y Combinator, but I’d never dug into its foundation. But Mallaby, in his book, does—and it’s fascinating.

So I was so happy to do a bit more digging myself.Paul Graham set up Y Combinator, and over the years it has invested in 5,000 startups. These companies collectively hold a combined valuation exceeding $600 billion. Notably, more than 400 of these companies are valued at over $100 million, and over 100 have achieved valuations surpassing $1 billion. But it’s about more than money or numbers—it’s about this guy with huge intelligence, and a singular and very philosophical way of looking at business and startups, and how he revolutionised the sector.

Subscribe now to access the longer co-hosted episodes released on the 1st of every month as well as lots of bonus episodes and ad free weekly episodes.

Subscribe via Spotify Subscriptions, Apple Subscriptions or on Patreon by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠clicking on this link ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or going to patreon.com/greatbusinessstories

What if I told you that one of the biggest insider trading scandals in Wall Street in the 1980s wasn’t orchestrated by a hedge fund titan or a corrupt CEO, but by a charming underpaid journalist for the Wall Street Journal who ruined his ruined his promising career and sullied the reputation of the great Wasll Street Journal- and all for just a few thousand dollars. This is the story of  R. Foster Winans who was a rising star journalist in the heyday of the 1980’s, the era of “Greed is good.” This is not just a story of financial crime; it’s a cautionary tale where you might find yourself wondering: would I have done the same? It’s a cracking story, enjoy.

Subscribe now to access the longer co-hosted episodes released on the 1st of every month as well as lots of bonus episodes and ad free weekly episodes.

Subscribe via Spotify Subscriptions, Apple Subscriptions or on Patreon by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠clicking on this link ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or going to patreon.com/greatbusinessstories

It might not sound thrilling, but what if I told you the world’s most feared corporate investigator got his first big break from Spider-Man? And that this same man would go on to secretly chase billions in plundered wealth across five continents—uncovering Saddam Hussein’s Parisian investment, and billions in missing gold reserves of the fallen Soviet Union? From Wall Street dealmakers, to Pulitzer-winning journalists, to governments - they all came to Jules Kroll, the man who turned private investigation into a billion-dollar business empire—and became known as “the CIA of Wall Street.” In this episode, we dive into the story of how Kroll built a global intelligence operation -and also a few of the great cases and stories that built his reputation and business- enjoy.

Subscribe now to access the the longer co-hosted episodes released on the 1st of every month as well as lots of bonus episodes and ad free weekly episodes.

Subscribe via Spotify Subscriptions, Apple Subscriptions or on Patreon by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠clicking on this link ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or going to patreon.com/greatbusinessstories

I love this story because it’s the story of the American dream. It begins in a tiny Los Angeles storefront started up by a Korean immigrant couple and within a decade, they’ve created an empire. But there’s sweatshop scandals, religion, and a relentless refusal to slow down, leading to 2 bankruptcies, this is the story of how Forever 21 went from defining a generation… to becoming a case study in retail self-destruction.

It’s a story that I’ve always wanted to dig into because if you were to tell me that 2 guys who came up with the idea for what became Facebook, had that idea very sneakily more or less stolen from them, would then go on to get involved in bitcoin at a time when it was only worth $13 dollars and predict that it would reach $40,000 and were laughed at by many for that prediction, become the first bitcoin billionaires and would found a company that has striven to ensure that bitcoin and digital currencies are regulated, attempt take that whole sector out of the wild west image that still casts a cloud over it, I would think that these 2 guys would be seen as heroes, the good guys and yet in many people’s minds, the Winklevoss twins are the assholes- why is that? It makes for a great story, so let's look into it.

In this episode I examine the remarkable rise of Dana White and the UFC- he is without doubt a master marketeer, but there are also some serious question marks over other aspects of his personality.